Where have all the Chavistas gone? Five years ago, every fashion-conscious Western radical was praising Venezuela to the skies. Sean Penn exulted in how Hugo Chávez “did incredible things for the 80 percent of the people that are very poor.” Oliver Stone made an obsequious film about South American socialism, whose premiere in Venice was attended by the caudillo himself. Michael Moore hailed Chávez for eliminating 75 percent of extreme poverty. His Canadian equivalent, Naomi Klein, proudly declared her support for the beret-wearing strongman.

Suddenly, they have gone very quiet. In the UK, articles by prominent Leftists have started vanishing from the archive. The leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, was a passionate defender of Chávez, as were other senior figures in his party. “Venezuela is seriously conquering poverty by emphatically rejecting neo-liberal policies,” he wrote in a piece that has now disappeared from his website. “Conquering poverty?” Venezuela is in a state of unprecedented squalor: blackouts are frequent, food and medicines are running out and most state workers are on a two-day week.