>>623 (OP)venezuela had a functional bourgeois democracy since the late 1940s or so called the "punto fijo" (fixed point). they had two political parties that alternated power with each other for decades until Chavez destroyed the system. Of course the republic mostly served the interests of the rich and did little to alleviate the suffering of the poor, so the political system became more and more unworkable over the decades until it went into a terminal crisis in the 80s and 90s. There is still a lot of debate over whether the economy was imbalanced and too lopsided toward extractive oil industries, or whether it could have taken a different path or something.