Revolution? What Revolution?

Episode 6 | Was Hugo Chávez always a socialist?

Not exactly. When Chávez first came to power, he rejected socialism and communism—but embraced another label: revolutionary.

In this episode, we trace the ideological roots of Chávez’s "Bolivarian Revolution," from Simón Bolívar and Ezequiel Zamora to Fidel Castro and Norberto Ceresole. We look at how Chávez’s vision evolved, and how it began shaping Venezuela.

We also revisit one of the earliest warnings against Chávez’s authoritarian turn: Jorge Olavarría’s dramatic 1999 speech denouncing the president to his face.

By 2001, Venezuela was not yet the authoritarian state it would later become. But the logic was already there: the enemies, the language, and the revolutionary fervor.

This is the story of what Chávez’s “revolution” really meant—before the world came to know it as "socialist."

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