In 1998, Hugo Chavez gets elected president, following a long line of presidents who'd been very corrupt and basically destroyed the economy of the country.
And Chavez was elected amidst all that. Chavez stood up to the United States and he's done it primarily demanding that Venezuelian oil be used to help Venezuelian people.
Well... we didn't like that in United States.
So, in 2002, a coup was staged, which was no question in my mind, in most other peoples minds, that the CIA was behind that coup.
The way, that that coup was fomented was very reflective of what Kermit Roosevelt had done in Iran.
Of paying people to go out onto the streets, to riot, to protest, to say that Chavez was very unpopular.
You know, if you can get a few thousand people to do that, Television can make it look like it's the whole country and things start to mushroom.
Except in the case of Chavez, he was smart enough and the people were so strongly behind him, that they overcame it. Which was a phenomenal moment in the history of Latin America.
