In the Shadow of the Liberator Hugo Chavez and the Transformation of Venezuela

The spectre of Simon Bolívar hovers once again over Latin America as the aims and ambitions of the Liberator are taken up by Comandante Hugo Chávez, the charismatic and controversial President of Venezuela. Welcomed by the inhabitants of theteeming shanty towns of Caracas as their potential savior, and greeted by Washington with considerable alarm, this former golpista-turned-democrat has already begun the most wide-ranging transformation of oil-rich Venezuela for half a century, and dramatically affected the political debate throughout Latin America.

In a first-hand report from Venezuela, veteran correspondent Richard Gott places the Comandante in historical perspective, and examines his plans and programmes. He describes the support and opposition that these attract, and argues that this unique experiment may prove a new way forward for Latin America.

"Little is known in detail of [Chávez?s] life, career and ideas. This study of chávez by a former editor of the London Guardian and writer on Latin American politics begins to fill the gaps." ? Multicultural Review
"Many people thought if I became president it would mean the return of Hitler and Mussolini rolled into one ... the imagined disaster has not taken place." -- Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela

Richard Gott is a former Latin America correspondent and Features Editor for The Guardian. A specialist in Latin American affairs, he worked in the 1960s at the University of Chile, where he wrote Guerrilla Movements in Latin America, the definitive study of the revolutionary groups that arose in the years after the Cuban revolution. He is also the author of The Appeasers (with Martin Gilbert), and Land Without Evil