Like Fidel Castro before him, Hugo Chavez for a long time has insisted he was lots of things, but definitely not a communist. We see this a lot at the beginnings of communist regimes, and it’s done mostly for domestic reasons. However, another reason is that it’s easier for internationalistas to champion the dictator as he quietly consolidates power. Pol Pot, after all, for years was just an agrarian reformer. Ho Chi Minh was just an aggrieved nationalist and never mind what followed. Communism cannot be sold on its own merits but only through deception. Now that Chavez has fully consolidated power and initiated terror, he has taken the mask off and all but declared his real intentions. It’s gone little noticed in the U.S. but it does mark a watershed.

One of Venezuela’s finest essayists, Gustavo Coronel, has some well-articulated thoughts about this milestone here.