Hugo Chavez

This essay is part of a weekly feature on my blog that presents interesting stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, Israel and Iraq.


The New York Review of Books' Alma Guillermopietro offers a fascinating portrait of Venezuela's strongman Hugo Chavez. The portrait is worth reading because it's a far more nuanced look than the cariacatures you read in the mainstream press. The piece is also interesting because it lacks the ideological blinders used in the hagiographies of Chavez run in many left-wing media outlets. These hagiographies are based on the nonsensical premise that because Chavez is loathed by President Bush and is a virulent critic of American foreign policy, then he must be some kind of progressive hero. Like ideologues of all stripes, they do not understand the difference between democratically-elected and democratic-acting. Hugo Chavez is a garden variety power hungry, populist demagogue who has erected a cult of personality around himself. The autocrat doesn't deserve anyone's admiration.