Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution

Though it came out in Mother Jones last October, I just now discovered this interview of Richard Gott on his new book. His analysis sounds right to me: Hugo Chávez is an original figure, open to new ideas, and almost certainly doing more good than harm by addressing long-standing injustices. Of course, he is very excitable and says some wild and occasionally crude things, and his improvised economics is a little disturbing (a lot of spending, a lot of waste -- and the oil revenue can't last forever). But the mix of panic and disdain he inspires in the mainstream U.S. and European press is at least as exaggerated. Gott's comments on the new media law (hardly as drastic as similar laws in western Europe) and court reform should help restore sanity to the discussion. Hugo Chavez and His Bolivarian Revolution