Sworn In With Bolívar's Face | On the Media | WNYC Studios

When Juan Guaido swore himself in as the self-declared interim president of Venezuela, he used a copy of the Venezuelan constitution with Simón Bolívar on the cover. Bolívar is revered in Venezuela and across Latin America as "El Libertador" — The Liberator — who successfully fought for independence from Spain in the early 19th century. More recently, former President Hugo Chavez linked himself, a socialist, to Bolívar's legacy and image, even though historians agree he wasn't a socialist (and Karl Marx actually thoroughly hated him).

So what did Bolívar actually stand for? And what does it mean that Guaido used his image, despite recent efforts by the opposition in Venezuela to distance themselves from Bolívar's legacy? Bob speaks with Miguel Tinker Salas, Venezuelan historian and professor at Ponoma College about what Bolívar might mean in Venezuela today.