Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the United States

This is the riveting and frightening story of ambitious, tempestuous and avowed anti-American Hugo Chávez, who is making waves through South America and being widely compared to Fidel Castro. Ex-paratrooper, outspoken socialist, and brash personality, Chávez is known for his stance against big business, fearless threats to the Bush administration, social reforms that have violently polarized his country, and claims that he will soon unite South America. As gas prices rise to unprecedented highs, Venezuela's importance surges as the fifth largest oil exporter in the world. Nikolas Kozloff's access to top advisors, members of the opposition, and leaders of Chávez's own political movement allow him to present a comprehensive portrait of Chávez as he runs for re-election and moves into the global spotlight.

"Hugo Chavez has put Latin America back on the U.S. radar with his outspoken attacks on American imperialism and his leadership in forming economic ties among Latin American nations outside U.S. influence. To many in the southern hemisphere, he represents a welcome alternative to the U.S., whose efforts to heal the region's economic woes through the World Bank and the IMF have largely failed. In the northern hemisphere, he is often seen as a threat to free-trade agreements and democracy in the Americas. Kozloff, a senior research fellow for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, tries to neutralize the latter image as he recounts recent Venezuelan history and analyzes Chavez's rise to power. Paying equal attention to Chavez as a man and as a political phenomenon, he inserts slow-moving anecdotes among dense historical details, making for an uneven read. Kozloff's use of sources like the Nation, the New Left Review and the International Socialist Review, as well as his participation in the antiglobalization movement, also reveal a leftist bias toward Chavez. He offers little criticism of Chavez's policies or the nondemocratic means — a 1992 failed coup — through which he first garnered public favor, before winning office in a 1999 election and 2002 reelection. But while this bias might make for some one-sided storytelling at times, it also makes for a thoughtful, well-researched alternative to the majority of information available on Chavez in the English-speaking world. (Sept. 19)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"The focus of the work is on the use of oil to solidify Chavez's internal political party and his ability to use oil also to build an international agenda and an international following....Kozloff's book is useful both for its biographical background material on Chavez and for its pertinent insights into his ways." Library Journal

"Enables readers to understand the Chavez movement on its own terms while also making clear Chavez's larger significance in the current politics and possible future direction of Latin America." Doug Yarrington, Colorado State University

"Nikolas Kozloff's fact-filled Hugo Chavez is a thought-provoking explanation of why people around the planet hail Venezuela's fiery leader as a hero. This is essential reading for all who want to understand modern global politics or are committed to creating a better world for our children." John Perkins, author of the New York Times bestseller Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

"Is Hugo Chavez the Messiah? Is George W. Bush afraid of him? Is the taste of oil too sweet to give up? Where is Latin America going with the new generation of 'revoltosos'? Nikolas Kozloff's sharp, provocative report offers the reader a clue to understanding the current redrawing of hemispheric power." Ilan Stavans, author of The Hispanic Condition

Nikolas Kozloff is Senior Research Fellow, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (Washington, D.C.). He writes regularly for Counterpunch, Political Affairs, and other political magazines.