What comes next for Venezuela?

To build on Steve's talk of emperors (see "RE: Ronald Reagan running...), here's an interesting piece about Hugo Chavez. (Chavez — new Emperor of South America, perhaps?)

Now that the dust has settled after President Hugo Chavez's landslide victory, there is much speculation as to how Venezuela will change in the next few years under his leadership. Mr Chavez has openly talked of his third term in office as "a new phase" in his long term project for the Latin American country. He has made no secret during or after his election campaign that his "Bolivarian Revolution", named after the 19th century South American independence leader Simon Bolivar, is heading towards socialism. In the next 14 years, Mr Chavez wants to turn Venezuela from a capitalist into a socialist society...
Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister for North American Affairs, Jorge Valero, told the BBC "in the next few years, there will be a lot more cooperation between our government and the nations of the southern hemisphere".
Venezuela is also trying to substitute the US with China as its number one commercial partner. "The idea for the next few years for Venezuela to sell all the crude oil it presently shipping to the US to the Chinese instead," said Alberto Garrido.
The ultimate goal is to become completely economically independent from the US because Mr Chavez does not want to be a leader who is at the beck and call of the political and economic establishment of North America.

— Greg Morsbach, BBC News, Caracas