Mr Hugo Chavez, the former lieutenant colonel jailed in 1992 for leading a failed coup attempt, strolled to victory in last month's presidential elections, winning 56 per cent of the vote. He has already become a significant figure in Latin American politics.
Mr Chavez restored faith in a greatly devalued democracy, as 95 per cent of voters turned up at the polls, in a country accustomed to participation as low as 30 per cent.
In addition, Mr Chavez's political movement, the Polo Patriotico (PP), a coalition of socialists and social democrats, won eight of Venezuela's 23 governorships, 70 seats in the 189-member congress and 18 of 48 senate seats.
Mr Chavez promised a radical redistribution of wealth in favour of the poor, but also assured investors that their profits were secure, and that he would comply with international economic commitments.
"My government will be neither left nor right, but humanist," said Mr Chavez. The 44-year-old political science graduate promised to root out corruption, increase social spending, create jobs and support small farmers, wracked by low prices and poor crop harvests.
The dual discourse paid handsome dividends. Within days of the election results, Venezuela's battered stock exchange rose by 22 per cent, a sign that investors sensed no threat from the Chavez administration.
A week after his victory, Mr Chavez began a tour of some of his neighbours, visiting Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. He said he wanted to join Mercosur, the regional economic and customs union made up of these three countries and Paraguay. He also visited Mexico, and hinted at playing a mediation role in Colombia's armed conflict. Colombian guerrillas had welcomed his election as "a true son of Bolivar".
Mr Chavez's emergence as a regional political figure was heightened a fortnight ago when a group of dissident Mexican soldiers requested safe passage to Venezuela and an audience with Mr Chavez. All this has occurred before he has even taken office.
The US government, which withdrew Mr Chavez's US visa after the 1992 coup attempt, had no choice but to restore his visa and congratulate him on his victory.
While the region's military forces have been responsible for countless massacres of civilians and act as a reserve force to occupy factories and mines during periods of social unrest, Mr Chavez is an unusual creature, a military man who revolted in protest against the unpopular role assigned to the armed forces.
In February 1992 the then Venezuelan president, Mr Carlos Andres Perez, introduced an economic austerity plan which led to a wave of social protest and a crackdown by the armed forces, in which 2,000 civilians were killed.
"I didn't join the army to massacre people," said Mr Chavez, who formed a clandestine army group, the Bolivar Movement, inspired by Venezuela's independence hero, Simon Bolivar. "We didn't take up arms against democracy but against tyranny, which is justified under the constitution," said Mr Chavez in defence of his failed coup.
He was jailed for five years, but pardoned by the outgoing president, Mr Rafael Caldera. He has since built up a powerful popular support base, ranging from students to shopkeepers, farmers and unemployed. In the days before the election count, wealthy Venezuelans began panic-buying in the supermarkets, queued to purchase dollars, and sent their children to Miami, a sure sign that something interesting was about to happen.
Mr Chavez's transformation from renegade soldier to national statesman reflects the failure of traditional political parties to resolve deep-seated issues of social injustice, aggravated by the dismantling of the few social services available to the poor majority.
Despite owning the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East, 80 per cent of the nation's 22 million people are estimated to live in poverty while about 600,000 families do not eat even one meal each day.
Mr Chavez, who has been nicknamed "Hurricane Hugo", will officially assume the presidency on February 2nd, and intends to hold a referendum two weeks later. The citizens will elect a national constituent assembly, representing all social sectors, to revise the constitution and elect a new congress.
"We will attend to basic needs, like health care and education, and transform the current brutal neo-liberal economic model," Mr Chavez pledged.
The reality of Venezuela's economy, plagued by a dependence on fluctuating oil revenues, and a national debt of $22 billion, leaves Mr Chavez little room for social spending. The clock ticks steadily away, as he prepares to walk the tightrope between the tiny elite who own Venezuela's privatised power structures and the excluded majority, expecting short-term benefits from their populist saviour.