It’s not just him. Hillary and the State Department are complicit as well.
That is because the State Dept sees it as a socialist versus populist issue and not a socialist versus capitalist issue.
Zalaya was a true modern day socialist and oligarch and a strong supporter of a world capital market economy who recognized a strong and growing wave of populism opposed to the market economy. Zalaya tried to ride that populistic wave into permanent power the same way Chavez rode it.
In Latin America there are populists masquerading as socialists just like there are populists masquerading as capitalists in the US.