Comandante
Hugo Chávez's Venezuela
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4.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
"An impressively well-researched and readable portrait . . . a useful reminder of what el Comandante did and didn't achieve, how he got away with it, and the danger of statesmen-as-showmen whose promises are too good to be true." —The New York Times Book Review
"A deeply informative, sprightly chronicle of Venezuela's dizzying journey." —The Washington Post
In Comandante, acclaimed journalist Rory Carroll tells the inside story of Hugo Chávez’s life, investigates his time as Venezuela’s president, and assesses his legacy. Carroll examines the almost religious devotion of millions of Venezuelans who regarded Chávez as a savior, as well as the loathing of those who brand him a dictator. Based on interviews with ministers, aides, courtiers, and citizens, this intimate piece of reportage chronicles a unique experiment in power that veered from enlightenment to tyranny, from comedy to farce. In beautiful prose that blends the lyricism and strangeness of magical realism with the brutal, ugly truth of authoritarianism, Comandante offers a cautionary tale for our times.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A democratically elected despot; a revolutionary whose main priority is winning campaigns; a showboating clown; a feared tyrant. Venezuelan president Hugo Ch vez, soon to enter his 13th year of rule, is a mass of contradictions. In this incisive portrait of a histrionic ruler who brooks little criticism, Carroll, the Guardian's Latin American bureau chief, captures the tragic absurdity of life in a country flush with petrodollars but where many go without adequate health care, and where "Out of Order" signs are switched out for ones promising "Socialist Modernization" as broken-down elevators languish. The book starts with a closeup look at the comandante himself, then successively pulls back the lens on the sycophants who serve as his ministers and advisers, then on the decaying society outside the presidential palace. Ch vez runs the country on whims, one week expropriating famed jewelry stores because they stand on the square where Sim n de Bol var was born, another week enthusiastically launching a public health program only to let it flounder. And all this on national TV, where the president's show Hello, President can run up to eight hours each day. Meanwhile, disastrous economic policies have left the country mired in inflation and shortages, with a creaking infrastructure and shuttered factories. Readers who know Ch vez mainly for his anti-U.S. bluster will find some surprises in the true-life black comedy surrounding this mercurial leader.
