How did Hugo Chávez get elected?

In 1998, Chávez was a former coup leader fresh out of prison, polling at just five percent and dismissed by nearly everyone in Venezuela.

But within a year, he would become president.

In this episode, we trace how Chávez made that extraordinary rise: from his release by Rafael Caldera, to his decision to abandon armed struggle and run for office.

We follow the collapse of Venezuela’s old political order, the other candidates, and the behind-the-scenes battle between Venezuela’s economic elites.

Because the man who promised to destroy the oligarchy did not reach power alone—he got there with its help.

In this episode, we trace the collapse of the political system that ruled Venezuela after 1958—and how it gave rise to Hugo Chávez.

For decades, Venezuela seemed to be one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Latin America. Oil wealth fueled the rise of “Saudi Venezuela,” while the political parties promised democracy, order, and progress. But beneath the surface, the system was beginning to rot.

We follow the decline of the Punto Fijo era: the failed guerrilla movements of the 1960s and 70s, the rise of corruption and patronage, and the explosion of the Caracazo. As the country unraveled, old conspiracies inside the military began to grow—and a young officer named Hugo Chávez was watching.

Who built modern Venezuela?

In this episode, we go back to the collapse of nineteenth-century Venezuela and the rise of the generals who built the modern state. From Cipriano Castro and Juan Vicente Gómez to the discovery of oil, the slow opening under Eleazar López Contreras and Isaías Medina Angarita, and the dramatic collapse of Venezuela’s first democratic transition.

Because Venezuela was not built by politicians. It was built by soldiers.

And even when democracy finally arrived... the military never truly disappeared.

On February 4, 1992, a little-known army officer named Hugo Chávez launched a military coup against the Venezuelan government. By dawn, the coup had failed. But then something unexpected happened...

For less than two minutes on live television, Chávez transformed himself from an unknown colonel into the most important political figure in Venezuela.

In this episode, we tell the story of the coup that changed Venezuela forever: the chaos of that night, the soldiers who followed Chávez, and the country that made his rise possible.

What happens when a country with the largest oil reserves in the world collapses into dictatorship?

Welcome to The Guacamaya—the podcast about Venezuela, power, and the long history that led to the crisis we see today.

In this initial episode, I explain what this podcast is, why I’m making it, and what you can expect in the episodes to come. We’ll go beyond headlines to understand how Venezuela changed, how authoritarianism took hold, and why its story matters far beyond its borders.

Because to understand Venezuela today, we have to understand how we got here.