354. Liberator of Latin America: Simón Bolívar vs The Spanish Empire (Part 1)

In January 2026, President Trump ordered a military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He was seized from his compound in Caracas, he was transported to New York, and now faces narco-terrorism charges. This is the culmination of years of tension between the US and Venezuela. 25 years ago, left-wing populist Hugo Chavez came to power and took Venezuela's incredible oil reserves out of the hands of US companies. And while oil profits at the beginning were used to reduce poverty under Chavez and then his successor, Maduro, Venezuela became increasingly corrupt and more and more unstable by the day.

Since 2014, Economic collapse, political repression. These things have driven nearly an eye-watering eight million people to flee the country. That is the largest refugee crisis in the history of the Americas. Why was the anti-imperialist and socialist Chavez inspired to name his social revolution after Simon Bolivar?

And does it reflect the views and politics of the man himself? This is what we're going to find out. in this four-part series and we dive into the man who still officially towers over the Bolivaran Republic of Venezuela, as it's officially still called. Simon Bolívar, who freed not just one country, six countries from Spanish colonial rule, and then looking at his subsequent fall, maybe that might tell us a bit about this present predicament that Venezuela finds itself in.

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