Although the Latin American news today is mostly about possible turmoil in Mexico, after a splendidly organized election and a disappointing performance in the Copa Mundial, Venezuela continues to attract attention. I've been asked where to find my comments on Hugo Chávez and current developments there. So, for those interested, here are the links.On my main website, see
Venezuela: Background of the Conflict
which also has links to:
Hugo Chávez's Triple Struggle
and a short essay on Bolívar & "Bolivarian democracy"
Here's a more recent comment on Chávez & the chavistas from this blog, and a note on my brief face-to-face encounter with him in March 2002 (I liked him then, but didn't entirely trust him as a leader or thinker).
You won't find any mention of Chávez in my book The Land and People of Venezuela, which was published in 1991, before he gained national and international attention for his attempted coup and (apparently) assassination of the president, a messy affair that ended in shambles on Feb. 4, 1992. However you will find a fairly extensive description of the 1989 popular uprising in which Chávez was one of the officers ordered to suppress it, and which (he has said, and I believe him) got him started plotting in earnest to change the whole government structure.
Maybe it's time to write something new about the man and his movement.
Stereopticon view of PLAZA BOLIVAR. CARACAS VENEZUELA 1909, from HOMENAJE A CARACAS
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