They didn ' t have a vibrant and diverse economy under neoliberalism . So I ' m not sure what your point is . They were objectively better off by every standard under Chavez . Neoliberalism hasn ' t improved the standard of living in any country for the majority of peopleIgnoring your latter statement , which is impossible to know , there ' s also no reason to believe you ' re correct . Sure , Venezuelans did better under Chavez than prior . Because oil prices went up . That had nothing to do with Chavez or the Bolivarian actions . In reality , they could have been much better off had they not had Chavez during the time oil went up . In fact , formerly socialist states of the soviet bloc are objectively worse off after their collapseThis is completely false . Unemployment has risen from 2 to 20 percent in segments of Eastern Europe as well as abject poverty 2 to 20 percent ? Do you believe ridiculous Soviet numbers to believe there was 2 percent unemployment prior to the fall of the Soviet Union ? Eastern Europe is immeasurably better off than they used to be . if they left Russia ' s influence .