Overview
In The Chavez Code, Venezuelan-American attorney Eva Golinger uses documents obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act to lay out irrefutable evidence that the US knew about the plot to overthrow Chavez before it happened. The extent of US funding of opposition movements in Venezuela, the history of US interventions across Latin America, the suspicious blacked-out lines and pages of these documents, and the ongoing investigation suggest even deeper US involvement. For any US citizen who wonders what it means to "fund democracy" abroad, this book is essential reading.Synopsis
In The Chavez Code, Venezuelan-American attorney Eva Golinger uses documents obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act to lay out irrefutable evidence that the US knew about the plot to overthrow Chavez before it happened. The extent of US funding of opposition movements in Venezuela, the history of US interventions across Latin America, the suspicious blacked-out lines and pages of these documents, and the ongoing investigation suggest even deeper US involvement. For any US citizen who wonders what it means to "fund democracy" abroad, this book is essential reading.
Library Journal
Venezuelan president Hugo Ch vez has seized the anti-U.S. mantle much as Fidel Castro did in the 1950s. A former military man himself, he uses his country's oil as a diplomatic tool in his unrelenting attacks on U.S. interests generally and President Bush specifically. Focusing on the issue of U.S. involvement in the April 2002 coup aimed at ousting Ch vez, this blatantly pro-Ch vez polemic by a Venezuelan American lawyer is important reading if only because it presents an alternate view regarding America's attempts to influence regional politics and economics. The book is not, however, the blockbuster it is hyped to be and certainly reveals no "code." Bush's foreign policy makes no secret of financing opposition to Ch vez. Nor is it a secret that the populist Ch vez attempts to influence politics in the region, or that he looks to leverage oil for a seat on the UN Security Council. But though Ch vez champions the poor, the vast majority of Venezuelans still live below the poverty line a fact Golinger chooses to ignore. Written in English but first published in translation in Cuba and Venezuela, this book is not particularly well written but does encapsulate Ch vez's position. As libraries owe their readers arguments on both sides of current issues, this book is recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., AL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.