I remember seeing anti-government graffiti late at night one night, and the following afternoon it had been replaced with a portrait of Chavez. The people who I talked to who were members of the opposition party were uncomfortable talking about voting against Chavez. Admittedly this was way back in 2006, but it still points to Venezuela not being the most free country.
I went in expecting a dictatorship and left feeling that it was a democracy. Or at least much more than a hopeless dictatorship as all the articles I read made it sound. There did exist fear about expressing anti-Chavez sentiment in and around the barrios[1], but this was mainly due to fear of the people in these areas being dangerous and potentially lashing out. And in fact, many people were just scared of the barrios period.
[1] Poorer, temporary-turned permament housing throughout the city, if anyone isn't familiar.
It also means there are informant systems which keep an eye out for 'troublemakers' (opposition ideas) and people don't open up completely about their dissatisfaction.
Christopher Anderson[1],[2] is left of center and he felt disappointed to put it mildly, at what he saw in VZ.
[1]http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/capitolio
[2]http://5b4.blogspot.com/2009/08/capitolio-by-christopher-and...
He essentially sacrificed the economic stability of the country to win elections. While its not a nice thing to do for the future of the country its understandable that you could win an election legitimately using such a tactic.