Hugo Chavez leaves Venezuela in economic muddle

One of the most damning verdicts on the late Hugo Chavez's leadership of Venezuela came from a doctor who made a name for himself by claiming to have inside knowledge of the cancer that eventually killed the president. 

Jose Rafael Marquina, a Venezuelan based in Miami, repeatedly predicted that Chavez's illness would prove terminal, providing detailed accounts of what he said was the president's course of treatment.

His statements were given extensive coverage by the opposition media in Venezuela, eager to fill the vacuum left by the lack of official information about Chavez's condition.

That habit of impromptu policy making was integral to Chavez's style, right from the start of his 14 years in power. 

Time and again, the president would make major decisions on an ad hoc basis, often during the course of his rambling and unscripted weekly TV broadcast to the nation, known as Alo President.

He was particularly prone to quick-fix solutions in economic policy, resorting to regular currency devaluations, expropriations of private firms and inflation-busting public-sector pay rises rather than tackling the economy's underlying structural problems. 

This fire-fighting approach continued even as Chavez lingered on his Cuban sickbed, with Vice-President Nicolas Maduro implementing a 32% devaluation of the bolivar in February.

As a result, Chavez bequeaths a nation beset by crumbling infrastructure, unsustainable public spending and under-performing industry.

Thanks to his social programmes, poorer Venezuelans have certainly benefited from the country's oil wealth more than they did under what he called the rotten elites that used to be in charge.

But there are strong suspicions that much money has been wasted - not just through corruption, but also sheer incompetence.