During the fourteen years Chávez held power,2 Venezuela took in nearly $800 billion in oil-export revenues. Much of this money did indeed finance state welfare programs, the same programs that persuaded foreign admirers to see Chávez as a progressive hero. But hundreds of billions of dollars from Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the state oil company, as well as other Venezuelan state companies, made its way into bank accounts around the world.
