(2005-02-13) -- With little international fanfare, Venezuela's popular President Hugo Chavez is quietly overseeing creation of a utopian society similar to Fidel Castro's Cuba, according to experts at several U.S. universities.

"Venezuela, an oil-rich land of 25 million citizens, has suffered for years under the vagaries of democracy and capitalism," said an unnamed professor at the University of Colorado (C.U.), "but Mr. Chavez has ushered in a new golden age of Venezuelan glory by...
-- unifying the judiciary,
-- reducing annoying dissent,
-- encouraging poor people to move onto land owned by rich people and grow crops,
-- replenishing the nation's supply of peacekeeping AK-47s and Russian military helicopters, and
-- replacing the old national anthem with a re-written John Denver song, "Almost Heaven, Venezuela."

The economy is expected to boom in the coming years, the expert added, as investors pour their resources into a nation committed to the common good of all of its citizens, and to stability and uniformity at the highest levels of government.

"When you look at the success of Castro's Cuba, you get an idea of what's possible if Chavez follows the same time-tested success principles," the C.U. professor said. "Venezuela will become a model of a new progressive vision for human societies worldwide."

In August 2004, Mr. Chavez received a ringing endorsement from the Venezuelan people during a recall election, when only 42 percent of the voters called for his immediate ouster.