Some key definitions you’ll need to know in order to understand this Daily Beast article by Itxu Diaz:

Democracy – a political system in which people supported by the United States government always win elections. It’s preferable, but not essential, that at least two US-backed groups will compete for political power.

Evidence – any claim made by rightwing journalists or anonymous officials that demonizes a US enemy or rival.

Diaz’s article essentially dusts off a theory that was spread in 2007 when the Venezuelan opposition narrowly defeated a referendum that would have approved 69 amendments to the constitution. The story was that the military forced the late president Hugo Chavez to accept defeat. Now, after a landslide victory by the opposition in National Assembly elections, the same tale is spread again. Writers like Diaz want to celebrate opposition victories without having to accept the validity of any past or – heaven forbid – future electoral defeats. No conspiracy theory is too silly provided it allows them to do that.

Perhaps the all time wildest conspiracy theory about Venezuela was that Hugo Chavez’s illness – that eventually killed him – was an elaborate hoax masterminded in Havana. Boris Munoz, writing for Newsweek (which was once merged with the Daily Beast) claimed that even members of Chavez’s “inner circle” suspected that it was a hoax. Had Chavez survived you can bet that theory would have survived as well in outlets like the Daily Beast.

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