Chávez listened but said nothing. Then, a few weeks later, he abruptly asked for Urdaneta’s resignation. Venezuela’s Supreme Court quashed any investigation into corruption. As Urdaneta had predicted, the ruling elite did indeed get the message: If you are loyal, you can steal. Like Putin, Chávez made a choice. No one forced him to turn Venezuela into a kleptocracy, and even his own intelligence chief was surprised when he did.
