Maduro's rise from bus driver to Chávez successor revealed in new documentary
The rise and fall of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro mirrors the reversal in fortune of his once-rich country.
Fox Nation's new documentary special, "House of Maduro: Palace to Prison," traces the arc of Maduro's life from his beginnings as a bus driver to his eventual replacement of Hugo Chávez as Venezuela's leader.
Simultaneously a character study and a geopolitical explainer, "House of Maduro" examines the political climate cultivated under Chávez and its downstream effects as it evolved under Maduro.
The country's turmoil was exported in the form of mass migration, drug trafficking, human smuggling and crime, which bled into the United States and ultimately led President Donald Trump to order Maduro's capture.
"What happens in Venezuela doesn't stay in Venezuela," host Rachel Campos-Duffy warns in the documentary. "What's more, Venezuela stores weapons supplied by Russia, China, and Iran. And it allegedly hosts foreign terrorist groups like Hezbollah."
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"But what's next for Venezuela? And what message does this send to America's foreign adversaries?"
The region faces a turning point. U.S. warships and 10,000 Marines now sit off Venezuela's coast. Trump has closed the country’s airspace, and Maduro is branded the head of a terrorist cartel. It remains to be seen whether the end of Maduro’s rule will trigger a dangerous new showdown in America’s backyard, or if cooperation will prevail.
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These questions are explored in "House of Maduro" through a historical lens. Analysis begins with the rise of Chávez, who once called the president of the United States "the devil" at a United Nations meeting. He died of cancer in 2013, but not before he designated Maduro his preferred successor in his final televised address.
The documentary explains that, when Maduro first took office, he was considered by some to be "a stupid person because he made a lot of errors in his speech."
"He would say things that really did not make any sense. We laughed about him," one guest said in an interview.
"And really, it was our loss. We underestimated Maduro."
Maduro's climb to power and capture by U.S. forces unfold in great detail in Fox Nation's newest special, "House of Maduro: Palace to Prison."
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