Imported repression: How Cuba taught Venezuela to quash military dissent

In December 2007, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez suffered his first defeat at the polls. Although still wildly popular among the working class that had propelled him to power nearly a decade earlier, voters rejected a referendum that would have enabled him to run for re-election repeatedly.

Stung, Chávez turned to a close confidant, according to three former advisors: Fidel Castro. The aging Cuban leader had mentored Chávez years before the Venezuelan became president, when he was still best known for leading a failed coup.

Now, deepening economic ties were making Cuba...