Content area
Full text
VENEZUELA'S HUGO CHAVEZ: Savior or Threat to Democracy?*
EL DILEMA DEL CHAVISMO: UNA INCOGNITA EN EL PODER. By Alberto Arvelo Ramos. (Caracas: Centauro, 1998. Pp. 224.)
HABLA EL COMANDANTE. By Agustin Blanco Munoz. (Caracas: Fundacion Pio Tamayo, 1999. Pp. 643.)
CHAVEZ: LA REVOLUCION PACIFICA Y DEMOCRATICA. By Freddy Dominguez. (Caracas: Freddy Dominguez, 1999. Pp. 149.)
LA HISTORIA SECRETA DE LA REVOLUCION BOLIVARIANA. By Alberto Garrido. (Merida: Editorial Venezolana, 2000. Pp. 423.)
LA VENEZUELA DE CHAVEZ: UNA SEGUNDA OPINION. By Teodoro Petkoff. (Caracas: Grijalbo, 2000. Pp. 178.)
LA CONSPIRACION DEL 98: UN PACTO SECRETO PARA LLEVAR A HUGO CHAVEZ AL PODER. By Roger Santodomingo. (Caracas: Alfadil, 1999. Pp. 135.)
CHAVEZ: LA ULTIMA REVOLUCION DEL SIGLO. By Leonardo Vivas. (Caracas: Planeta, 1999. Pp. 244.)
PLOMO MAS PLOMO ES GUERRA: PROCESO A CHAVEZ. By Juan Carlos Zapata. (Caracas: Alfadil, 2000. Pp. 184.)
The flaws in Venezuelan democracy seemed innocuous in comparison with the brutality of the repressive authoritarian regimes that emerged in Latin America in the two decades following the Cuban Revolution. After the collapse of the dictatorship of General Marcos Perez Jimenez, the major political parties in Venezuela, Accion Democratica (AD) and the Christian Democrats (COPED, signed the Pacto de Punto Fijo in 1958. In this document, they agreed to respect electoral outcomes, avoid partisan strife, and share power and patronage. The pact may have been a flawed means to democracy, but for better or for worse, it became the foundation of stable democratic rule in Venezuela for four decades.
The status quo ended in December 1998, when Venezuelans elected Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias as their president. Chavez first gained notoriety for leading an abortive coup against the government of President Carlos Andres Perez (1989-1993) in 1992. The coup failed, but Chavez emerged as a leader capable of giving voice to public outrage over corruption. During the petroleum boom of the 1970s, popular wisdom had held that "Dios es un venezolano." But when the boom ended, euphoria turned to rage. Even before Chavez's coup attempt, a traumatic week of bloody rioting in Caracas in February 1989 had exposed the depth of public discontent. The anger was based on a sense of injustice. Many indignant citizens reasoned that only theft on a massive scale by...