In the Shadow of the Liberator: Hugo Chavez and the Transformation of Venezuela (review)

In the Shadow of the Liberator: Hugo Chávez and The Transformation of Venezuela. By Richard Gott. London: Verso, 2000. Map. Appendixes. Bibliography. Index. vi, 246 pp. Cloth, $25.00. Paper, $18.00.

The bold and charismatic president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, does not easily fit into a mold. Richard Gott, author of a comprehensive work on the Latin American guerrilla movement published in 1970, examines the diverse strands that influenced Chávez and his heterogeneous movement. He devotes separate chapters to the lives of three nineteenth-century figures: Simón Bolívar, his tutor Simón Rodríguez, and the antioligarchic general Ezequiel Zamora. In the rest of the book, Gott also moves across time and space by looking at the nationalistic regimes of Generals Omar Torrijos (Panama) and Juan Velasco Alvarado (Peru), and even makes reference to Charles de Gaulle and the right-wing Argentine writer Noberto Ceresole in an effort to trace influences and make comparisons. Gott concludes that Chávez "follows in the footsteps" of Torrijos and Velasco "but with a different agenda . . . having learned from their mistakes," the most important of which is that "the armed forces cannot rule on their own" (p. 93). Another historical strand that Gott explores is the Venezuelan Left and specifically a dissident faction of the communist movement dating back to the 1940s, whose main ideologue was Salvador de la Plaza. Gott calls de la Plaza "one of the intellectual authors of the project of Hugo Chavez" (p. 84). De la Plaza and his legacy shaped the political development of two key cabinet members, namely, former Minister of the Interior Luis Miquilena and Minister of Mines Ali Rodríguez.

Gott's central argument is that Chávez, far from representing a caudillo with authoritarian tendencies, is "a serious revolutionary trying to carve out a new program for America" (p. 7). In order to demonstrate that Chávez represents a sharp break with the past, Gott looks at innovations in the area of foreign, oil, and Indian policies, and the nation's new constitution. Nevertheless, Gott points out that Chávez stops short of breaking with the capitalist system or raising the banner of anti-imperialism and hostility to the U.S. This attitude may help explain why Washington has been "unusually silent about Chávez" (p. 228). "In spite of all his rhetoric against neoliberalism," Gott observes, he makes "the right kind of reassuring noises that will not frighten the foreign investors" (p. 173).

Gott does not raise theoretical questions such as whether the Chávez government fits the recent Latin American model associated with Alberto Fujimori and Carlos Menem in which strong presidents shunt aside or disregard the authority of the Congress and political parties. The book contains just a few factual errors, which may not be surprising given the breadth of information that the author provides. For instance, Francisco Arias Cárdenas (the number two man in the 1992 coup that Chávez led) never belonged to the leftist Patria Para Todos (PPT), nor is that party more committed to the decentralization than the allegedly statist Movimiento al Socialismo (as is affirmed on pp. 141, 175). It should be added, however, that Gott demonstrates a solid grasp of Venezuelan politics as well as history, culture and society. In short, the book is a timely contribution on a government that has drawn widespread attention in the media, but very little in the way of the kind of background information and analysis provided in this book.