Not to say that there weren't a lot of people who saw through this economic miracle all along. I used to work with a Venezuelen ex-pat who passionately opposed Chavez from the start. He always had his detractors who understood that his policies were grounded in oil prices at high enough levels that he was able to give away a lot of stuff. But Sirota also wasn't alone in seeing (perhaps) what he wanted to see.

When the tide goes out, ugly stuff tends to be exposed. I'd bet Sirota has re-thought his position.