Chavez had a giant ego. Call him a demagogue or a megalomaniac. That is probably why he would have accepted not being president of Venezuela or even going to prison much more easily than ending up with the level of national and international disrepute that Maduro has ended up with.
Maduro (and especially his accomplices, like Cabello) don't care about their image. What Venezuelans think of them doesn't interest them in the slightest. They don't care if eight out of ten Venezuelans hate them. The only thing that moves them is their shady business and the fear of losing it.
