George W. Bush in Cowboy in Caracas, by Charlie Hardy

On War & Peace: OpEd: Fought Venezuela's Chavez to protect oil wealth

Hugo Chavez became the hope of the poor in Venezuela, and in 1998 they gave him enough of their votes so that he took office as president in 1999. He oversaw the writing of new progressive constitution and then turned his attention to the country's oil wealth. It had never been distributed to the majority. Instead it benefited the managers and employees of the state oil company and those who were granted its privileged contracts.

Oil reform threatened the country's traditional oligarchy. With the tacit approval, and perhaps more, of the Bush Administration in the United States, it began plotting a coup d'etat. Chavez was arrested,; the US State Department applauded the coup. But when the poor heard, they were furious.

The OAS and the Carter Center then negotiated an agreement between both sides, in which there would be a referendum on the presidency in August 2004. Chavez mobilized his substantial support among the poor and the others and won the referendum by a healthy margin of 57% to 43%

Source: Cowboy in Caracas, by Charles Hardy,p. x-xi Apr 1, 2007

The above quotations are from Cowboy in Caracas A North American's Memoir of Venezuela's Democratic Revolution by Charles Hardy. Click here for other excerpts from Cowboy in Caracas A North American's Memoir of Venezuela's Democratic Revolution by Charles Hardy. Click here for other excerpts by George W. Bush. Click here for a profile of George W. Bush.
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