Oookay. North Korea and Venezuela are two entirely different things . I do not mean to say that Venezuela is a extraordinarily free country to live in, but Venezuela is (so far) at least a functioning democracy while North Korea is an entire different business. As to why Chavez retains his power - well, we'll see what happens if the oil prices go down, I think it will be easier to draw conclusions then.
Suffice to say that most people on these boards come from relatively well-to-do countries, and we would perhaps have a hard time imagining what it would be like if we lived in a poor country full of oil that suddenly diverted large parts of the state budget to helping the lower classes and hiring people to state-owned companies. It is not hard to comprehend that Chavez through these actions have gained a very large group of votes, more than enough to vote him to power again and again. The interesting question is of course what will happen when Chavez can no longer afford this, and if he can relinquish his power (and/ or reform his programmes) if things go bananas. In such a situation, will Venezuela have gained something from his time in power or not?