Not so long ago, if you had asked Venezuelans what would happen if Hugo Chávez ever fell under a bus, many of them would have suspected you of wishing it so and the subject would quickly have been changed. Now that he is dead – though saved the fate of Lenin and Mao, both of whom were embalmed – the question looms large.
What is reasonably certain is that the PSVU (United Socialist Party), into which Chávez bundled most of his political allies in 2007, will continue to be a political force in Venezuela for the immediate future. Attempting to make use of this force as Chávez might have done will be difficult, because no-one knows for sure what he planned to do next (sometimes, it seems, even Chávez himself didn’t know). An elective dictatorship, a socialist revolution, a falling-out within the PSVU, chaos and a rightwing backlash are all equally unsafe bets.
