The so called “Bolivarian Revolution” and the concept of “socialism of the 21st century” initiated by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela have not only polarized Venezuelan society tremendously, but also the entire hemisphere and even beyond. The question of whether the policies under the label of the Bolivarian Revolution - including a number of controversial social programs - can in fact be evaluated positively or negatively according to certain standards appears to be a highly ideological one. This paper focuses on who frames and constructs the Bolivarian Revolution as good or bad and how this is done. It examines different media discourses in Latin America, the US and Europe and finds that media which position themselves as rather conservative delegitimize the Bolivarian Revolution from the start, while media which position themselves as rather liberal establish it as legitimate.
