Much of Venezuela's 19th century history was characterized by periods of political instability, dictatorial rule of the caudillos, and revolutionary turbulence.

The first half of the 20th century was marked by periods of authoritarianism — including dictatorships from 1908 to 1935 and from 1948 to 1958. The Venezuelan economy shifted after World War I from a primarily agricultural orientation to an economy centered on petroleum production and export.

n the 1950s, during Jimenez reign, Venezuela enjoyed remarkably high GDP growth, so in the late 1950s, Venezuela's real GDP per capita was close to West Germany's. However, democracy established in 1958 didn't bring economic prosperity: on the contary, GDP growth reduced, and ultimately throughout many years GDP even declined.

Even more telling is this assessment of the impact of Venezuela's experiment with "state capitalism" on the economy and society. The assessment was made by one Andrei Illarionov, an Economic Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation. It comes from a report he made to the 8th Russia Economic Forum in London, April 11, 2005, a group very aware of the ill effects of those Cuban and Soviet bloc policies that the Times author lauds.

Prior to that date (1957), the development of oil deposits by local oligarchs and “imperialist sharks” had propelled the South American nation (Venezuela) to record high positions in terms of economic growth within a period of four decades. Unprecedented economic growth increased the per capita GDP by a factor of ten. By the beginning of the 1950s Venezuela became one of the world’s richest nations. Its per capita incomes and consumption levels stood a notch below those of the U.S. and Switzerland. Its capital, Caracas, turned into one of the most modern, beautiful and safe cities in the world.

A turnaround occurred in 1957, however, when the government launched a nationalization campaign. Efforts to nationalize the fuel industry, pipelines, seaports, steel processing plants, and other facilities, completed 20 years later, drove the country to stagnation. The average per capita GDP growth rate fell by a factor of 13 then – from 7.6 to 0.6 percent.

The year 1977 marked the triumph of state capitalism in Venezuela. At this time, the government controlled the commanding positions in the economy and took an active part in managing the global crude oil market as OPEC’s leading member. The “patriotically motivated” economic policy proved devastating as Venezuela slid into its deepest economic crisis. By 2004 its per capita GDP was 37 percent lower than half a century before that. The degrading impact of state command in the economy spread beyond government institutions – it caused the degeneration of Venezuelan society, affecting two generations of people who grew up during state capitalism. Today, Venezuela has no political forces capable of leading it out of the historical deadlock.

Having lived through this period of decline, Chavez ought to know that his are bad decisions. If he had half as much compassion for the people as he claims, he'd not inflict further misery upon another generation. If his eyes were open, he'd heed the big red "Stop" sign that the sad history of Socialism has placed at every intersection. And if he had any semblance of intuition, Chavez would leave "improvization" to the likes of stand-up comedians, jazz musicians, and roadside bombers. He would eschew nationalization and embrace globalization.

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