Alejandro Velasco

So he fired them.

He fired 18,000 oil industry workers.

These were executives, engineers, the people with the most technical know-how, lots of history with the company, which then meant that to jumpstart the company again, he had to find people from other parts of the world and then also train a new cadre of engineers, etc.

But, of course, now he was doing so in a way that he could refashion the oil industry

to serve the vision that he had laid out, which is there's no longer going to be this firewall between the national oil industry and the state.

The national oil industry will serve the interests of the people represented by the state, which is represented by me.

And so now the direct flow of petrodollars to the executive is complete.

So they boycott the parliamentary elections in 2005 and Chavez says, thank you.

great, if you're giving me the legislature on a silver platter, I will take it.

And so, unsurprisingly, the legislature elections of 2005 happened, and now Chavez has control over the military,

control over the national oil industry, international credibility, democratic credibility, and control over the Congress, just at the time when oil prices are hitting their peak.

Just an immense amount of power.

It's complete power, is what it is.

It is total power, which eventually will be the Achilles heel and the reason why Chavismo fails.

Un hecho único que nos define como latinoamericanos.

El cráneo del libertador.

Que Bolívar también significa.

Uno de los hombres más grandes de la historia.

Debería por consiguiente tener un solo gobierno que reúna las diferentes estados que hayan de formarse en la confederación.