You folks are missing the point. Hugo needs poverty. It is his basis of support. Remember to read your Machiavelli here.
This is the way tin pot dictators work. This is the way of Castro, Stalin, Mao, Mugabe.. any old one. You force the crisis, people are fearful of things so they hold on to the current government as the one steady rock in the midst of change.
Chavez has been moving slowly here, but now he is ready to speed things up. The next step is the "night of the long knives" move. This is where the dictator suddenly turns on some of his most ardent supporters, kills a lot of them off, and the polity is so glad to see them go, that they don't notice that lots of civil liberties died with them. This is what happened to Trotsky, Rhoem, and Gueverra.
Chavez is glad to see the oil revenues dissipate. It will only make him stronger in country. Mass starvation works too.