Chavez is another opportunistic thug who wishes he could become a multi-billionaire like his role model Fisel Castro (according to several financial publications) with vast numbers of mansions, mistresses, limos, and all the other trappings of vast wealth. The key is a studious faux populism, propaganda through control of the mass media, brutal military oppression, and neighborhood "Committees for the Defense of the Revolution" to dispense ration coupons and population control on a micromanaging level. It also helps to have similarly minded American liberals and their vermin media on your side.