There is no religious or economic war, there are no tanks on the streets, nobody is fighting against them and yet Venezuelans are engulfed in the worst crisis in their nation’s modern history.

When did everything start? With the polarisation of Venezuela at the hands of Commander Hugo Chavez Frias. In 1999, Chavez began a campaign of hatred and antagonism against the country’s middle and upper classes using the official government channel to fuel, during endless speeches, people’s social resentment.

Chavez’s political amateurism was noticeable from the very beginning of his mandate. His remarkable lack of political knowledge and his inability to bring the country together to work towards a better future was a common denominator throughout his time in Miraflores.

Chavez governed with his guts and this was reflected in every public appearance where he spoke for hours and took the opportunity to address any critic in an emotional manner, dismantling any argument against his government in a non-traditional and usually inflammatory way.

It seemed as if Chavez took his presidency as a personal vendetta and within a year of his mandate Venezuelans started to feel offended and aggravated by their Presidente. The tone of his political discourse never changed during his 13 years in power. On the contrary. Polarisation took over the daily lives of Venezuelans, dragging with it the country’s wealth and the people’s wellbeing.

Chavez attacked every productive industry in the country and in no time many businesses fled towards more stable markets taking with them their investment and leaving behind highly qualified workers and professionals.

His relationship with Cuba came to make matters worse. Fidel Castro quickly recognised Chavez’s evident political ignorance and he immediately found a way to become his mentor. Cuba took every advantage it could from its relationship with the Venezuelan president and, in exchange; a democratic country was getting economic and political advice from a regime that had lived in the dark for decades.

The results cannot surprise anybody.

It was easy for Chavez to ignore people’s rights and manage the country as he wished when there was plenty of money to waste. He ignored human rights, misused the country’s resources, dismissed economists readings and warnings, all the while covered in a mythical aura fed by a voracious populism.

Hugo Chavez was a master of division, blatantly applying the age old divide and conquer strategy. Without any doubt, he excelled at this. However, Chavez went beyond basic political rule and destroyed the unicity and idiosyncrasy of the nation, creating a snowball reaction that is about to reach its end.

The demise of Hugo Chavez Frias did not bring any hope to a country already in crisis. His final and most damaging political decision was to leave in power, Nicolas Maduro. Chavez could use his undeniable charisma to hide or veil his lack of political knowledge, but Maduro can not make use of this ruse to cover up his.

A country with enormous natural resources, youth, highly qualified professionals and workers, and an enviable geographical location is enduring its deepest and fearfullest crisis. To survive it, all Venezuelans need to leave behind the hatred planted by Chavez and maintained by Maduro and reconcile themselves as a nation.