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Episode 244

Before the speeches and the salutes, there is a boy under the wide Venezuelan sky.

The llanos stretch endlessly—flat, dusty, alive with insects and heat. Life moves slowly here, and poverty is ordinary. Hugo Chávez is born into this landscape in 1954, raised by his grandmother, shaped by discipline, faith, and stories told at night. Tales of Simón Bolívar linger in the air, mixing with baseball dreams and the quiet feeling that something in the country is deeply unbalanced.

Venezuela is rich in oil but poor in fairness. Chávez senses it early—in worn classrooms, empty promises, and the distance between those who rule and those who wait. The army becomes his way forward, offering order and belonging. He reads, listens, and begins to imagine power used differently, not to protect the elite, but to speak for the forgotten.

This is not the sudden rise of a strongman. It is a slow gathering of belief. Long before Hugo Chávez finds his voice, Venezuela is already listening.

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