Venezuela

Overview

A leftist critique of the Chavez regime and its relationship with autonomous populist Venezuelan movements

A critical look at the Chavez regime from a leftist Venezuelan perspective, this account debunks claims made by Venezuelan and U.S. rightists that the regime is antidemocratic and dictatorial. Instead, the book argues that the Chavez government is one of a long line of Latin American populist organizations that have been ultimately subservient to the United States as well as multinational corporations. Explaining how autonomous Venezuelan social, labor, and environmental movements have been systematically disempowered by the Chavez regime, this analysis contends that these movements are the basis of a truly democratic, revolutionary alternative.

Reviews

"[Uzcategui's] is a particularly useful critique because it comes from neither the right-wing opposition, nor from overzealous Chavistas, but from someone who ardently desires real revolution for the people of Venezuela." —In These Times (July 2011)

Author Biography

Rafael Uzcategui is the coordinator of the Programa Venezolano de Educación y Acción en Derechos Humanos (Venezuelan Program of Education and Action on Human Rights); an editor of El Libertario, the Caracas anarchist newspaper; the author of Corazón de Tinta (Heart of Ink), and a member of the left opposition to the Chávez regime. He lives in Caracas, Venezuela. Chaz Bufe is the translator of Cuban Anarchism and Dreams of Freedom and the author of several books, including Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure?, The Heretic's Handbook of Quotations, and An Understandable Guide to Music Theory. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.