You’re honestly overthinking it. The reason they failed is cuz they are not a socialist nation. They are a narco-state run by a strong man dictator under the guise of socialism. Just because they describe their government in some way doesn’t make it accurate. But a spade is a spade. The whole country is being used as a front by powerful people to facilitate the drug trade and in the process get rich themselves.

Look up the name Tereck el Aissami for example. Also the nephews and sons of Madura were implicated in being narco financiers in the Narcosobrinos Affair. It’s not at all a socialist or communist state or anything else. As of now it’s simply a front scheme by a criminal regime for international trafficking.