RIP Hugo Chavez.

A megalomaniac, a buffoon, a consummate performer, a soft dictator who raided his country's oil wealth for personal power, Chavez was all those things but his legacy will be what happens to his country now after 14 years of his rule. Born in a poor family he hated the rich and believed in Socialism where the country's wealth is distributed to the poor. In his 14 years in power the Venezuelan currency the Bolivar lost 90% of its value, being devalued 5 times. Inflation is still running at 30% and violent crimes have boomed. There are 20,000 murders every year and people are kidnapped from bus stops in broad daylight. On 1 January, 2008 the government brought in the Bolivar Fuerte or the strong Bolivar at the rate of 1:1000 of the old Bolivar. At that time it was 2.15 to the dollar, devalued to 4.30 to the dollar on 4 January 2011 and to 6.30 to the dollar early this year. Chavez changed the constitution so that he could stand for a third term, forbidden under the previous rules. Since 2011 he had been suffering from cancer and had been to Cuba for operations and chemotherapy. In October last year he won a third term in office and in December he was back in Cuba for another operation. Nobody knew his diagnosis but he clearly knew even as he was running for his third term. He left his vice president, Nicolas Maduro in charge while he was undergoing treatment and could not attend his own swearing in. However, a supine Supreme Court said that he could be sworn in later. He supplied Cuba with 100,000 barrels of oil daily at very attractive rates and in exchange some 40,000 Cuban doctors provided free healthcare to the poor. Education was free and even houses were given away. While espousing the cause of the poor he traveled in a luxury Airbus A319 and blamed foreign forces for his country's dire economy. Numbers of civil servants multiplied as there were unknown numbers of ministries and corruption boomed. " It's a big deal here when a girl turns 15," said a Caracas designer, Giovanni Scutero. " If the father is with the revolution he doesn't care about the fabric as long as it's in red. Something simple, $3000 - more elaborate $250,000." nytimes.com, 6 March. The similarity with India is disturbing. Our Commandante was not elected but sneaked in through the Rajya Sabha. The NREGA scheme gives money to rural poor for doing nothing, Rs 100 in 2005 but Rs 214 today. The CPI is over 10%, 53 ministries looting the exchequer, billions spent on luxury aircraft and murders and rapes every minute. Chavez at least had the grace to go at the age of 58 years. Sadly our lot are immortal.