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I would be just about two.

I ever played a little. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And today, well, today we're taking a closer look at the life of former Venezuelan strongman, Nicholas Maduro, remember him?

He's currently behind bars inside one of America's most notorious federal detention centers.

But not long ago, well, just months ago, as a matter of fact, Nicholas Maduro ruled Venezuela from Miraflores Palace in Caracas.

He was surrounded by armed guards and loyalists, chauffeurs, military officers, private convoys, and all the insulated comforts that

come with absolute political power. Now, this was a man who inherited the socialist revolution

of Hugo Chavez and presented himself as the defender of the

Venezuelan working class, don't they always? He constantly railed against capitalism, the U.S.,

and what he described, as the corruption and greed of Western elites. Of course he did. But over time,

Maduro himself became the face of a very different kind of excess.

Unlike Hugo Chavez, Maduro never really possessed the same charisma or revolutionary mystique.

Chavez was theatrical, a little bit magnetic, a gifted political performer who could command

a crowd for hours. Maduro often appeared far more awkward by comparison.

He was a former bus driver and union organizer,

suddenly tasked with holding together a collapsing Petro state after Chavez died in 2013.

And as Venezuela spiraled deeper into economic catastrophe, Maduro increasingly relied on the military intelligence services in a deeply entrenched inner circle to maintain control, as dictators always do.

...