Opinion The elected autocrat

That same dramatic flair deeply divided Venezuelans as he postured on the world stage and talked of restoring equilibrium between the rich countries and the rest of the world. It now obscures his real legacy,which is far less dramatic than he would have hoped. In fact,it’s mundane. Chávez,in the final analysis,was an awful manager.

The legacy of his 14-year “socialist revolution” is apparent across Venezuela: the decay,dysfunction and blight that afflict the economy and every state institution. The endless debate about whether Chávez was a dictator or democrat — he was in fact a hybrid,an elected autocrat — distracted attention,at home and abroad,from the more prosaic issue of competence. Chávez was a brilliant politician and a disastrous ruler. He leaves Venezuela a ruin,and his death plunges its roughly 30 million citizens into profound uncertainty.

Chávez’s failures did more damage than ideology,which was never as extremist as he or his detractors made out,something all too evident in the Venezuela he bequeaths. The once mighty factories of Ciudad Guayana,an industrial hub by the Orinoco River that MIT and Harvard architects planned in the 1960s,are rusting and wheezing,some shut,others at half-capacity. Underinvestment and ineptitude hit hydropower stations and the electricity grid,causing weekly blackouts that continue to darken cities,fry electrical equipment,silence machinery and require de facto rationing. The government has no shortage of scapegoats: its own workers,the CIA and even cable-gnawing possums.

Reckless money printing and fiscal policies triggered soaring inflation,so much so that the currency,the bolívar,lost 90 per cent of its value since Chávez took office,and was devalued five times over a decade. In another delusion,the currency had been renamed “el bolívar fuerte”,the strong bolívar — an Orwellian touch. Harassment of privately owned farms and chaotic administration of state-backed agricultural cooperatives hit food production,compelling extensive imports,which stacked up so fast thousands of tons rotted at the ports. Chávez called it “food sovereignty.” Politicisation and neglect crippled the state-run oil company PDVSA’s core task — drilling — so that production slumped. Populist subsidies reduced the cost of gasoline to $1 a tank,perhaps the world’s lowest price of petrol,but cost the state untold billions in revenue while worsening traffic congestion and air pollution.

Chávez’s political genius was to turn this record into a stage from which to mount four more election victories. An unprecedented oil bounty — $1 trillion — made him chief patron amid withering nongovernment alternatives. He spent extravagantly on health clinics,schools,subsidies and giveaways,including entirely new houses. Those employed in multiplying bureaucracies — officials lost track of fleeting ministries — voted for him to secure their jobs. His elections were not fair — Chávez rigged rules in his favour,hijacked state resources,disqualified some opponents,emasculated others — but they were free.

The comandante,as he was known to loyalists,used his extraordinary energy and charisma to dominate airwaves with marathon speeches (four hours was short). He might blow kisses,mobilise troops,denounce the US,ride a bike,a tank,a helicopter — anything to keep attention focused on him,not his performance. Distraction came in numerous forms: denouncing assassination plots; a farcical nuclear deal with Russia (eventually abandoned); exhuming Bolívar’s remains to see if he was murdered; praising or assailing guests.

I experienced the power of his performance firsthand in 2007 when,as The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent,I appeared on his weekly show,Alo Presidente,in an episode held on a beach. Invited to ask a question,I asked whether abolishing term limits risked authoritarianism. The host paused and glowered before casting the impertinence out to sea and making it a pretext to lambaste European hypocrisy,media,monarchy,the Royal Navy,slavery,genocide and colonialism.

It was theatre. As the cameras were packed away,and we all prepared to return to Caracas,the president shook my hand,shrugged and smiled. I had been a useful fall guy. No hard feelings. It was just a show.

Carroll,a ‘The Guardian’ correspondent ,wrote ‘Comandante: Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela’