What would have happened if Venezuela had adopted the Alaska strategy for sowing its oil revenues in the population rather than the state in the 1970s? Here's what: Poverty would be all but extinguished; the middle class would include a majority of the families in the country; Venezuela's income equality would be one of the best in the hemisphere (it's now the worst); the diversified economy would be two or three times the size of today's oil-dependent economy; unemployment and inflation would be in single digits; the Venezuelan people and not the state would own a sovereign fund with hundreds of billions of dollars in capital to invest in themselves; and the education, health, social security and law enforcement systems would be among the top three in the hemisphere.

If Venezuela had been wise about sowing the oil revenues in wealth creation tools for the population, it would be a First World nation economically, socially and democratically.
But it was not to be. Venezuela squandered the decades from the 1970s to the 1990s by engaging in divisive political turf fights over monopolizing oil rents. The oil revenues were corrupted and the economy failed, closely followed by -or caused by- the political parties.

When Chavez came to power ten years ago, Venezuela was absolutely ready to start over. If he had adopted the truly revolutionary strategy of Alaska, he, too, could have achieved virtually all the success described above. But what Chavez did was to compound the mistake of the past he said he so despised: he monopolized power and money in Venezuela. Monopolies are casinos ripe for plunder. Monopolies are breeding nests for national poverty, inequality, lawlessness and failure.

In 2006, presidential candidate Manuel Rosales proposed setting aside 20% of the oil revenues as a fund for capitalizing the enterprises of the poor and for direct distribution to the people. While the idea appealed to over 70% in surveys, Rosales was defeated in the election. On election night, claiming victory from the balcony of Miraflores, Chavez ripped up a poster image of Mi Negra - the electronic card representing the population's ownership of 20% of the oil. Since 2006, Chavez has increased his monopoly over power and tons of new oil money, while the country's systems have all but collapsed. Is it too late to ask again Arturo Uslar Pietri's question: when is Venezuela going to sow its oil revenues in the nation? 

michaelrowan22@gmail.com