Hugo!: The Hugo Chávez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution - Couverture souple

Jones, Bart

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0099520524 ISBN 13 : 9780099520528

Editeur : Vintage, 2009

Synopsis

Hugo! is the remarkable biography of Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela and leader of the Bolivian Revolution. Ex-paratrooper and outspoken socialist, Chavez is known for his stance against big business, fearless threats to the Bush administration, social reforms that have violently polarized his country, and also for providing a model for new governments and social movements across South America. Bart Jones was eyewitness to Chavez' rise to power, and describes his life in extraordinary detail, creating a comprehensive portrait of a man who has affected the most radical transformation of Venezuela for half a century, and dramatically affected the political debate throughout Latin America.

A propos du livre

Extrait :

Hugo Chávez and I were sitting alone on the second floor of the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Venezuela. It was close to midnight on April 30, 2007. Venezuela was minutes away from making a small bit of history by taking majority control of four multi-billion dollar oil projects in the eastern Orinoco River basin from international companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp, Conoco and Total. Like many of Chávez’s moves, the oil takeover was controversial. His detractors claimed it was another step in creating a totalitarian dictatorship modeled after his mentor in Cuba, Fidel Castro. His supporters responded that he was proudly re-establishing national sovereignty over a strategic natural resource where for years foreign companies had enjoyed a virtual tax holiday. I had a privileged bird's-eye view of Chávez coordinating the takeover. We were alone on the patio from 11:10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. – prime time for the president. It was my second interview with him in two days – a rare opportunity to spend time with a man flooded with interview requests. The conversations that night and the previous one amounted to nearly four hours. We covered a lot of territory, from Chávez’s impoverished childhood to the 2002 coup in which he was almost killed...and at least one sensitive topic he had never spoken about publicly before and I feared might bring the interview to an abrupt end. — From the Preface

Revue de presse :

"Chávez's rise has a made-for-Hollywood quality ... Jones provides a superb description of the economic inequities that helped create the conditions for a populist such as Chávez to come to power ... Where [he] truly excels is in his observations of Venezuelan society and the outsized role oil has played in molding the national character" (Washington Post)

"Jones's book is thoughtful, comprehensive . . . the best in the bunch" (Boston Globe)

"The most useful guide to emerge to such a major personality on the world stage" (Independent)

"Broadly sympathetic without being starry-eyed, this is a journalistic rather than analytical account...Jones's biography is a timely and compendious corrective...a book that seeks to tell this story fairly has got to be welcome" (Guardian)

"A refreshing departure from the ideologically charged tracts that tend to dominate the debate about Chávez" (Sunday Times)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Vintage
• Date d'édition: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0099520524
• ISBN 13: 9780099520528
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 624