The lamentable legacy of Castro-Chavismo

By: Pedro Corzo - 11/08/2026

Guest columnist.
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I don't know if we are near the end of the regimes inspired by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, namely Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, not forgetting Ecuador, which was able to escape thanks to the arrogance and fatuity of Rafael Correa, one of the most conspicuous clowns to have misgoverned a Latin American republic, only comparable to the coca grower Evo Morales, although very far from the lethal Daniel Ortega.

However, all the individuals mentioned are characterized by a populism that bordered on the absurd, a deep and widespread corruption, plus an ineptitude to govern their respective countries coupled with the ability to proclaim a nationalist vision, while transferring the sovereignty of the country to the most promising ally.

The Castro-Chávez proposal stemmed from the Castro-Chávez alliance. Previously, the Cuban tyrant had attempted, through violence and systematic manipulation of reality, to impose governments in his own image throughout the hemisphere—a project that only yielded failures. Although Daniel Ortega came to power through terror, he had the support of some neighboring countries and others not so geographically close, such as the Venezuela of Carlos Andrés Pérez, who, according to Sergio Ramírez, gave $100,000 a month to the Sandinistas, and the United States under Jimmy Carter, who withdrew all aid to the dictator Anastasio Somoza, just as Eisenhower did with Fulgencio Batista.

Castro, with thirty uninterrupted years in power, witnessed the arrival of Hugo Chávez to the highest office in Venezuela, a fateful coexistence that resulted, whether by prior agreement or understanding on the fly, in a coalition in which their respective hatreds against democracy, freedom and respect for human dignity were fused together with the resentful envy they professed towards the United States, forging the indecent proposal that today we call Castro-Chavismo, not without having proclaimed that they were in favor of 21st Century Socialism.

The new alliance, it must be acknowledged, was successful. The Castro brothers provided their subversive, repressive, and distorting capabilities, while Chávez and Nicolás Maduro contributed all of Venezuela's wealth, which, pocketed by Chávez and Maduro—who, like sharks, splashed their young—subsidized Castro's totalitarianism and bought political support with an oil diplomacy that bankrupted the Venezuelan treasury.

This program quickly gained numerous supporters, among whom stood out the corrupt and deceitful Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the most aberrant hypocrite among all Latin American politicians, and the no less nefarious Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, although to honor the truth these scoundrels never lacked allies, so much so that there was a movement called the "pink tide" that was always ready to support their proposals, among whom we remember the former president of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández.

Shedding the Castro-Chavista legacies is not easy because they leave deep and painful scars. Rafael Correa left power in 2017, and the country still suffers from his legacy. The clientele he cultivated under his rule remains eager for his return; they were sanctified by Correa's regime and protected by his devotion.

The example of Bolivia is even more challenging. Evo Morales attempted to perpetuate himself in power indefinitely by cloaking himself in a false legitimacy; however, the fraud was discovered and he had to resign, causing a complex period of ungovernability in the country until one of his most prized cronies, Luis Arce Catacora, came to power and, like a voracious piranha, sank his sharp teeth into Morales, his former protector.

However, the Andean nation remains steeped in Castro-Chavismo. Current President Rodrigo Paz Pereira has failed to steer the country toward genuine democracy, and numerous problems continue to threaten freedom and the path to a free society.

Venezuela is even darker. The dictator is imprisoned, but the dictatorship continues. There are numerous political prisoners, exiles have no guarantees for their return, and elections that guarantee everyone's rights are nowhere in sight.

We're almost speechless about Cuba and Nicaragua. The land of Rubén Darío suffers under a two-man dictatorship that dwarfs the Somoza regime. Their abuses are countless: political prisoners, mass exiles, crimes, not to mention the ultimatum that there will be no elections in a country where the Ortega-Murillo regime's elections have always been fraudulent.

Finally, Cuba is ruled by totalitarianism, under an ineptitude taken to the extreme and a people who, it seems, are on the verge of annihilation by their own rulers.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».