The Colombian cable network RCN, which is also available in Venezuela, was set to run the TV show. But on Jan. 30, the night the pilot aired, the channel was unavailable in Venezuela for the one-hour duration of the episode. That same night, a documentary on Chavez’s life ran on every state channel in the country.

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Conatel, the regulator, urged viewers to report any unauthorized broadcasts of the show, calling it an “insult to the memory of the commander.”

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“The state won’t risk losing [years] of indoctrination of the people by allowing them to watch the show,” said Miguel Pineda, a Venezuelan TV director. “That figure [of Chávez] is untouchable, it is the basis of everything they have said and done.”

Sony Pictures Television, the U.S.-based production giant that made “El Comandante,” claims it worked with lawyers to deliver the most realistic portrayal of Chávez and the events that unfolded around him. But Venezuelan officials clearly didn't agree.

Diosdado Cabello, the vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, said an “imperialist conspiracy” was trying to slander Chávez's memory using the TV show and threw his weight behind the hashtag #nobadmouthingchavez.

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"[Censorship] is not surprising at all, the government’s reaction to criticism has been brutal since [President] Maduro’s rise to power,” said Carlos Lauria, Americas senior program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, referring to Chávez's successor.

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“Repression has multiplied, and both journalists and other media are finding it harder to work,” he said.

But interest in Venezuela was still intense. Venezuelans were forced to search the nooks and crannies of the Internet to download illicit copies of the show or stream them on YouTube, sparking a barrage of angry tweets, Facebook messages and WhatsApp threads.

“We’ll have to watch #ElComandante online. This dictatorship thinks it can keep up with technological advances. Well they’re wrong,” protested one Twitter user.

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“#ElComandante the Venezuelan government gave it the best possible publicity by censoring it,” read another tweet.

Ivan Reyes, a 23-year-old who watched “El Comandante” the day it premiered, admitted to having mixed feelings. “On the one hand I liked it because it spoke of our country. It was like seeing a chunk of our history on screen,” he said. “But I slightly disliked the show itself, they use a very cowardly tone [to portray Chávez]. Perhaps it's their way of dismantling the myth.”

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But while many Venezuelans went out of their way to catch a pixilated glimpse of a young Chávez, many others chose not to relive what they see as the beginning of Venezuela’s downfall.

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“Who wants to recall an ongoing nightmare that hasn’t even reached rock bottom yet?” asked one person on Facebook.

Carlos Armas, a director and screenwriter whose film reviews are popular among Venezuelans, gauged his readers’ initial reaction: “A common commentary has been: I lived it, I suffered through it and I don’t want to know any more about that man.”