Chavez myth will outlive his achievements  Published  1:39 PM
EST Mar 06, 2013 () -    But the revolutionary coup plotter
proved a better destroyer of first the system that preceded him,
and then the state that he created, than an institution builder.
After convening a constituent assembly in 1999, Venezuela
approved a new Bolivarian constitution -- named after Chávez's
hero, South American independence hero Simón Bolívar. Even
before new elections and appointments to fill state positions
like the Supreme Court, Chávez and his supporters in the
constituent assembly started to subvert their own constitution.
Over the course of the next 14 years, the Chávez government
undermined judicial independence, used Central Bank reserves for
patronage, created partisan militias, established parallel local
government structures -- including the police forces in Caracas
-- consolidated control over the media, politicized the
electoral commission, and nationalized private companies by
caprice.    Through all of this, Presid