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While socialism fails in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez bows to capitalism

14 years ago By Alek Boyd

The WSJ reports today that the Venezuelan madman said recently that "investment and experience from foreign oil firms is necessary in Venezuela, "We need it". Contrast this position, in a rather pathetic effort at courting international investors, with these statements, made for local consumption: “In the model that I envision, public companies will not depend to survive on their installed capacity, nor the quality of its articles, nor their costs, nor their sales, because their continuity would be assured by the State.”

How can any right thinking person reconcile the two: is Chavez a socialist, or is he a capitalist? Moreover, how can Chavez's reassurance be taken seriously, if only last week he ordered summary expropriations of private companies?

One thing is certain, Chavez's 21st century socialism is proving a bigger failure than its predecessors.