stylistic:style_transfer, quality:correction, structural:expansion, structural:scholar_edition, information:extraction
Marxism and socialism

Chávez's connection to Marxism was a complex one, though he had described himself as a Marxist on some occasions. In May 1996, he gave an interview with Agustín Blanco Muñoz in which he remarked, "I am not a Marxist, but I am not anti-Marxist. I am not communist, but I am not anti-communist." In a 2009 speech to the national assembly, he said: "I am a Marxist to the same degree as the followers of the ideas of Jesus Christ and the liberator of America, Simón Bolívar ". He was well versed in many Marxist texts, having read the works of many Marxist theoreticians, and often publicly quoted them. Various international Marxists supported his government, believing it to be a sign of proletariat revolution as predicted in Marxist theory. In 2010, Hugo Chávez proclaimed support for the ideas of Marxist Leon Trotsky, saying "When I called him (former Minister of Labour, José Ramón Rivero)" Chávez explained, "he said to me: 'President I want to tell you something before someone else tells you... I am a Trotskyist', and I said, 'well, what is the problem? I am also a Trotskyist! I follow Trotsky's line, that of permanent revolution", and then cited Marx and Lenin.

Chávez also noted his identification with socialism, noting that "The Constitution speaks that the socioeconomic regime of Venezuela must have a strong cooperative and associative content and that gives it a charge that breaks with individualism and neoliberalism, which gives a strong socialist content to the project. In that direction we have to go all out. To cooperate is to socialize the economy, to give it a social content. I am sure that in Puerto Cruz, agricultural cooperatives will emerge." Later in his presidency Chávez promoted the socialism of the 21st century. His approach was more heavily influenced by the theories of István Mészáros, Michael Lebowitz and Marta Harnecker, who was Chávez's adviser between 2004 and 2011, rather than by those of Heinz Dieterich.