How Venezuela Has — and Hasn’t — Changed Since Maduro’s Capture

The Bolivarian revolution was the name given by Hugo Chávez to his socialist transformation of Venezuela after he became president in 1999. Named after South American independence leader Simón Bolívar, the programme involved sweeping nationalisations of industries, redistribution of oil wealth through social programmes, and increased state control of the economy. It promised to end Venezuela’s historical dependence on commodity exports and create a more self-sufficient, equitable society — a promise the article argues the new reform programme risks abandoning entirely.

The comparison is analytically precise. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 after Mikhail Gorbachev introduced both glasnost (political openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring) simultaneously, allowing citizens to mobilise against the regime using their new freedoms. China studied this and concluded that opening both systems at once was the fatal error — so it liberalised the economy while keeping the Communist Party’s political monopoly intact. Buxton argues Rodríguez is following the same strategy: fast economic liberalisation with no parallel political opening.

The article doesn’t explain Trump’s reasoning directly, but the context is revealing. Machado emphasises political reform and democratic accountability — including justice for corruption and human rights abuses under previous governments. This agenda would threaten the current PSUV figures who remain in power under Rodríguez. By contrast, Rodríguez is delivering the economic liberalisation the US wants while preserving the political stability needed for investors. Buxton implies Trump chose economic outcomes over democratic principles, sidelining Machado because her agenda would be more disruptive to the transition the US is managing.

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This article is rated Advanced. Julia Buxton writes with the compact density of academic policy analysis — she assumes familiarity with comparative political science concepts (regime transitions, political economy, liberalisation theory), introduces multiple historical parallels without elaborating them, and uses precise technical vocabulary (hydrocarbons, arbitration, rescinded, calibrated). Readers also need to track a large cast of named political actors and understand the significance of institutional details. It is highly suitable for CAT, GRE, or GMAT students who need practice with dense political and economic texts.

Julia Buxton is a professor of comparative politics and a leading academic specialist on Venezuela and Latin American politics. She has written extensively on Venezuelan political economy, the Bolivarian revolution, and drug policy in the region, and has advised international organisations on Latin American governance. Her academic grounding in regime theory — including the comparative study of authoritarian transitions — gives her the frameworks she uses in this article to situate Venezuela’s changes in global context. The Conversation publishes only verified academic authors, adding further credibility.

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