Venezuela's 'revolution' ailing—even in Chavez's hometown

In 2010, late socialist leader Hugo Chavez knelt down in the backyard of his childhood home in Venezuela's lush plains to plant an orange tree named 'revolution' as red-shirted supporters cheered and cameras flashed. During a song-and-dance commemoration of Chavez's birthday last year, his successor Nicolas Maduro sowed another orange tree in the same garden. The trees, though, have fallen ill, their leaves shriveled. "They have some sort of infestation," tour guide Ana Hidalgo said in the sun-doused yard behind Chavez's former house, whose walls are now laden with photos, quotes, and even his old hammock. Just like its botanical namesake, the movement Chavez called "The Beautiful Revolution" is ailing ahead of Dec. 6 legislative elections — including in Sabaneta, his sleepy hometown in Venezuela's agricultural heartland. More…