Long time readers of this blog must remember that more than once I have qualified the Chavez regime as a reactionary one, a throw back to the caudillo regimes of the XIX century that Chavez admires so much, secretly wishing that he participated in one of the many "montoneras", the small battles of the time. We should not be surprised of the result, a country falling backward in time, suffering a massive brain drain. But Chavez cannot see that: besides being gifted with an overblown ego and cheap charisma, his education is limited, and his understanding of the modern world the more so. His inability (more than unwillingness) to surround himself with the brightest comes from this lack of real worldly education coupled with his intolerable narcissism: no one can outshine him. As such he leads the country toward an entity he can understand and think he can manage, an archaic society ruled by outdated principles.