Michael Hudson: Pro-U.S. policies made Venezuela a polarized Latin American oligarchy. Despite being nominally rich in oil revenue, its wealth was concentrated in the hands of a pro-U.S. oligarchy that let its domestic development be steered by the World Bank and IMF. The indigenous population, especially its rural racial minority as well as the urban underclass, was excluded from sharing in the country's oil wealth. The oligarchy's arrogant refusal to share the wealth, or even to make Venezuela self-sufficient in essentials, made the election of Hugo Chavez a natural outcome. ... Chavez sought to restore a mixed economy to Venezuela, using its government revenue - mainly from oil - to develop infrastructure and domestic spending on health care, education, employment to raise living standards and productivity for his electoral constituency. What he was unable to do was to clean up the embezzlement and built-in rake-off of income from the oil sector. And he was unable to stem the capital flight of the oligarchy, taking its wealth and moving it abroad. wordsmith.social/protestation/…