PBS’s Tuesday Frontline documentary on Venezuela sought to highlight the series of events that led to the January capture of Nicolas Maduro. Naturally, that meant focusing in on Maduro’s corrupt and authoritarian rule, but there was one word noticeably absent from the history lesson: socialism.
According to PBS, the countdown to Maduro’s downfall began in 2012 when, in the words of narrator Will Lyman, he “was anointed by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, on live television.”
Lyman added that "Chavez saw the U.S. as his arch enemy and had clashed with it over control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves. He'd seized the assets of American oil companies doing business there.”
The one word missing from PBS's latest Frontline documentary on Venezuela? Socialism, "When Maduro came to power after Chavez's death, the oil industry was in disarray, and the economy was collapsing." Gee, what could have caused that. pic.twitter.com/xuAeRz0RUo
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 12, 2026
Associated Press reporter Joshua Goodman recalled how, “Venezuela is a petrostate. It depends exclusively on the sale of oil for income. Hugo Chavez renegotiated oil contracts in Venezuela, and a lot of the companies didn't like the deal he was offering, and they sued. And they, to this day, are owed billions of dollars from that expropriation.”
Lyman then continued, “When Maduro came to power after Chavez's death, the oil industry was in disarray, and the economy was collapsing.”
Former Obama official Juan Gonzalez then added, “Nicolás Maduro was incredibly unpopular at the very beginning, and there were questions about whether he could endure and survive politically. The time that Hugo Chávez left coincided with the collapse in oil and gas prices. So, Nicolás Maduro no longer had this pocketbook. I think Maduro found himself in a position where he had to use increasing crackdowns, even manipulation of elections.”
Venezuela isn’t the world’s only petro state, so global oil prices collapsing isn’t sufficient to explain why Venezuela’s economy cratered. For that, you would have to look at price controls both on oil and other consumer goods, including food and toilet paper, all to “protect people from capitalism.” Predictably, price controls led to shortages.
PBS wasn’t wrong to state elsewhere in the documentary that corruption and authoritarianism exacerbated Venezuela’s problems, but that was the logical conclusion of a socialist government viewing the U.S. and capitalism as its ideological enemy. Reducing Venezuela's issues to non-descript corruption is an inglorious for the media and not just the news media. Even Amazon's Jack Ryan series was not immune from simply labeling their fictious Venezuelan dictator a "nationalist."
Here is a transcript for the February 10 show:
PBS Frontline: Crisis in Venezuela
2/10/2026
10:11 PM ET
WILL LYMAN: In 2012, Maduro was anointed by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, on live television.
JOSHUA GOODMAN: Chavez is dying of cancer, and he anoints his successor. Watch.
HUGO CHAVEZ [ENGLISH SUBTITLES]: If something were to happen, I repeat, that would somehow incapacitate me, I ask that you elect Nicolás Maduro as president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. I ask you from the bottom of my heart.
GOODMAN: Maduro shows no expression, but it was the moment that set him up to become president.
LYMAN: Chavez saw the U.S. as his arch enemy and had clashed with it over control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves. He'd seized the assets of American oil companies doing business there.
GOODMAN: Venezuela is a petrostate. It depends exclusively on the sale of oil for income. Hugo Chavez renegotiated oil contracts in Venezuela, and a lot of the companies didn't like the deal he was offering, and they sued. And they, to this day, are owed billions of dollars from that expropriation.
LYMAN: When Maduro came to power after Chavez's death, the oil industry was in disarray, and the economy was collapsing. At the time, Juan Gonzalez was coordinating U.S. policy on Venezuela for the Obama administration.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Nicolás Maduro was incredibly unpopular at the very beginning, and there were questions about whether he could endure and survive politically. The time that Hugo Chávez left coincided with the collapse in oil and gas prices. So, Nicolás Maduro no longer had this pocketbook. I think Maduro found himself in a position where he had to use increasing crackdowns, even manipulation of elections.
