Chávez for Americans

Israeli media confirm our exclusive reporting --a few months later...

2008-07-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

It's all in our book. And in some of the excerpts published in our blog. And the Spanish-language blog.

Again, we were first in reporting it.

Again, weeks (or months) later the world's media confirm it.

Feels nice :)

Colombian commandoes rescue three American hostages, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt

2008-07-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and 11 other hostages held for years in jungle captivity were rescued on Wednesday from leftist guerrillas by Colombian troops posing as aid workers.

The rescue was a huge coup for popular President Alvaro Uribe, an anti-guerrilla hard-liner who has used billions of dollars in U.S. aid to push the rebels onto the defensive, cut crime and spur economic growth.

Betancourt, 46, was the highest profile captive held by the

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, Latin America's oldest surviving left-wing insurgency.

A former presidential candidate, her dual French-Colombian nationality had helped bring world attention to the plight of hostages held by the rebels.

"I believe that this is a sign of peace for Colombia, that we can find peace," Betancourt said, thanking the Colombian military for her rescue and weeping as she made her first public comments, carried on Colombian radio station Caracol.

Minutes later a pale but smiling Betancourt landed in Bogota's military air base, walking down the stairs of the plane and hugging her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, who was waiting on the runway.

Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said all of the former captives were in reasonably good health despite having been held in harsh conditions, often chained by the neck by their rebel captors.

The freed Americans are former Defence Department contract workers Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes. All three worked for Northrop Grumman and were captured in 2003 after their light aircraft crashed in the jungles while on a counternarcotics operation.

U.S. President George W. Bush spoke by telephone with Uribe.

"President Bush congratulated President Uribe, telling him he is a 'strong leader.' President Uribe thanked President Bush for his support and confidence in the Government of Colombia," Gordon Johndroe, White House National Security Council spokesman, said in Washington.

Northrop Grumman said in a statement that the three Americans had been transferred to the custody of the U.S. government in Colombia for return to the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice congratulated Uribe and the Colombia military on the rescue of the hostages.

"We are delighted with the safe recovery of these Americans ... We are working now to reunite them swiftly with their families in the United States," Rice said in a written statement.

She urged the FARC to release all other hostages and said the United States held the group responsible for the health and well-being of those still in captivity.

Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank, said the rescue showed that the FARC was in a serious organizational crisis.

"The Colombian government took advantage of the FARC's weakness and disarray to carry out the mission. It was a big gamble, but it worked," he said.

"Uribe is a risk-taker and is full of surprises. Not that he needs it, but this remarkable turn of events will further boost his popularity."

U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who had been visiting Colombia, was informed about the successful release of the hostages while en route to Mexico from Colombia.

A spokesman told reporters on McCain's plane that on Tuesday night, Uribe and his defence minister pulled aside McCain and the two senators travelling with him to inform them of the operation that was planned for Wednesday to free the hostages. The three had not learned about the success of the operation before departing Colombia.

"All three senators would like to congratulate the Colombian government for their successful release of the hostages," a McCain spokeswoman told reporters.

The New Yorker -- Cartoon Caption Contest ...

2008-06-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

Mr. Julio Rivas-Pita
Mr. Pablo Rivas-Rueda

Dear Mssrs. Rivas-Pita and Rivas-Rueda:

Thank you for your June 23, 2008 emails to David Remnick and Jaime Leifer. I would like to alleviate your concerns about the originality of Jon Lee Anderson’s June 23, 2008 article, “Fidel’s Heirs”. Mr. Anderson’s story had been assigned for months – indeed, he was in Venezuela in February reporting the piece – before you posted your book excerpt on your blog on March 24 or sent us a proposal to excerpt a portion of your book on April 1, 2008. It is the product of extensive travel and numerous interviews with governmental and other sources and is entirely Mr. Anderson’s original work. Though you suggest that our account of the killing of Raul Reyes is similar to yours, we must disagree. In fact, the only place where the language is the same is in the description of the timing of the incident, but it is unsurprising that you both chose to describe an attack that took place shortly after midnight as “in the early hours.”

As to your point that Mr. Anderson was not given special access to attend the Santo Domingo summit as a reporter, we again stand by our reporting. Though the meetings were televised, as you note, the session was not generally open to reporters.

I trust this resolves your concerns. Please feel free to contact me with any other questions.

Sincerely,

Lynn Oberlander

--
Lynn Oberlander
General Counsel
The New Yorker
4 Times Square
New York, New York 10036
(212) 286-5857
(212) 286-5025 (fax)
Lynn_Oberlander@newyorker.com

The New Yorker: Jon Lee Anderson, please get your facts straight :(

2008-06-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

The New Yorker has published a long story by Jon Lee Anderson on --who else?-- Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez.

We regret to say that Mr. Anderson didn't get his facts right.

For instance, he says, about the soap-opera denouement in Santo Domingo of the crisis that brought Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Nicaragua to the brink of war after the March 1 killing of FARC's No. 2 man "Raúl Reyes":

"The summit began the next morning, in a convention center set among the resort hotels and casinos on Santo Domingo’s seafront. At Chávez’s suggestion, I was given a lapel pin identifying me as a member of the Venezuelan delegation so that I could get into the Presidents’ session, which was closed to the press."

Mr. Anderson, PLEEEASE! :(

Millions in Latin America --these writers of course included-- closely followed live the events on TV. We do love soap operas. Especially final chapters with the whole cast vying with one another to outperform themselves... It was non-stop live coverage, and TV crews were openly enjoying themselves --or not, that depends on personal viewpoints-- with an assorted bunch that included Argentina's new prima donna Cristina Kirchner. We have it on tape, by the way.

We weren't going to mention that parts of your story sound --or rather read-- too identical to parts of our book "Chávez for Americans" --especifically excerpts published here March 24, well before your story appeared in "The New Yorker" June 23 edition. We weren't going to mention it, but our lawyers think otherwise.

Our book begins:

In the early hours of Saturday, March 1, 2008, radio and TV stations and the websites of newspapers all around the world had news bulletins announcing the killing of one of the most wanted terrorists ever: "Raúl Reyes", the effective man-in-command of the oldest guerrilla in the Americas, the vicious Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), known for its brutality and its dealings in drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping. "Reyes", 59, (his real name was Luis Edgar Devia Silva) was killed by a GPS-guided missile launched from a twin-engine A37 tactical support plane dating back from the Vietnam war, in a carefully planned operation employing state-of-the-art technology that included satellite photographs covering 300 square kilometers around the Putumayo river, a natural border line separating Colombia and Ecuador. The mission, code-named "Operación Fénix" (Operation Phoenix) had been planned with the assistance of American and Israeli experts, including American personnel at the U.S.-leased Manta tracking station in

Ecuador

. "Reyes" hideout happened to be in the Ecuadorean jungle, just 1,8 kilometers away from the Colombian border --something he to the last minute thought would make him immune to a Colombian attack. Ironically, the most important piece of the puzzle that led to "Reyes" death was a satellital call made to him by U.S. arch-foe and FARC supporter Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, the man who the next day would hold a minute of silence for him in his Sunday radio and TV show "Aló, Presidente" ("Hello, Mr. President"), calling him "a hero of the Revolution".

Mr. Anderson's story (the part of it related to "Operation Phoenix"):

In the early hours of March 1st, two days after the release of the four parliamentarian hostages, Colombian troops crossed into Ecuadoran territory and destroyed a FARC camp there. The FARC’s second-in-command, Raúl Reyes, was killed, along with twenty-four others. Uribe telephoned Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, to apologize for the incursion, but said that it had been done in self-defense—FARC fighters had fired on Colombian troops from the Ecuadoran side of the border.

On the next day’s “Aló Presidente,” which was broadcast from a plaza in Caracas, Chávez referred angrily to the “cowardly murder” of Reyes, whom he called a “good revolutionary,” and he said that the incident could be “the start of a war in South America.” Looking straight into the cameras, he added, “Try that here, President Uribe, and I will send you some Sukhois!” (Venezuela recently bought twenty-four Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia.)

There's more --but suffice for the day.

Venezuela won´t attend OPEC energy summit in Saudi Arabia

2008-06-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

For the complete Reuters version, click here.

The New York Times: Hugo Chávez, New and Improved

2008-06-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

The U.S. most influential newspaper says it here.

Worth reading...

Hugo Chávez: A Man with Many Faces and... Kinder and Gentler, Too?

2008-06-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

Mr. Chávez is once more prominently in the U.S. media.

The Washington Post's interviewer extraordinaire Milton Coleman tells us his impressions of him in this witty story.

And TIME's Tim Padgett wonders whether the Venezuelan President is becoming kinder and gentler.

World media confirm now what we said first about Op Phoenix and the INTERPOL Report

2008-05-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, we can proudly say that we were the first to tell it as it was, in our "Chávez para Españoles" blog --and some parts of it here, in "Chávez for Americans":

"The Wall Street Journal" told it much, much later.

And so did Spain's "El País" and Colombia's "El Tiempo" --again, much, much later.

Which proves that in the Internet age, bigger does not mean first...

"Chávez for Americans" / Summary

2008-03-25T09:25:00.001-07:00

This is a summary of the upcoming book:

SUMMARY

--Chapter 1: OP PHOENIX: The Untold Story
The book opens with the March 1, 2008 Colombian attack to the Ecuadorean hideout of
one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, FARC's No. 2 man "Raúl Reyes", in a joint
operation that included US and Israeli advisors, the use of the US-leased Manta airbase in
Ecuador and a mysterious informer from Reyes' intimate circle. The main trophy was not
Reyes himself (who was killed by GPS-guided bombs launched from A37 planes from the
Vietnam war days) but three Toshiba laptops with explosive information.

--Chapter 2: THE WAR THAT NEVER WAS
The day after the attack on Reyes' camp ten armoured batallions were hastily dispatched to
the Colombian border. Curiously enough, not by the Ecuadoreans, whose border had been
trespassed by the Colombian commandos, but by Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, who also
threatened Colombia with his newly-bought Russian Sukhoi jet-fighters. Why was that?

--Chapter 3: A WAR IN THE MAKING
In January 2008 one of the authors was told by an informer inside the Venezuelan government
that a massive propaganda operation was in the making to help the FARC gain political and
diplomatic status, in a move clearly destined to undermine the Colombian government's efforts
(and the American "Plan Colombia") to fight the narcoguerrilla, the oldest in the Americas. If
successful, the plan, masterminded by Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, could bring a war in the
Andes --and beyond.

--Chapter 4: CHAVEZ: THE MYTH IS BORN
On Feb. 4, 1992, five Venezuelan rebel officers staged a coup attempt against President Carlos
Andrés Pérez. Four of them were quite successful and took control of most of the country. Only
one failed, and botched up the plan. Paradoxically, his military fiasco became a stunning
launching-pad to political stardom.

--Chapter 5: CHAVEZ AS A SYMPTOM
Long before the failed coup against Carlos Andrés Pérez Venezuela's society had been in
serious trouble, with a make-believe democracy that funneled the massive oil riches to the
pockets of unscrupulous businessmen, bankers and politicians and left 80 per cent of the
people outside the equation. A bloody riot in 1989 that left hundreds of dead was the first
warning.

--Chapter 6: CHAVEZ: IN SEARCH OF HIS ROOTS
A very poor, unwanted child born in the hard Venezuelan Plains, who wore his first real shoes
when he was 12, Hugo Chávez wanted to make it as a Major League baseball player. He could
have been a great pitcher for the NY Yankees, and would have never hated the US. But things
didn't turn up that way.

--Chapter 7: THE WOMEN WHO LOVED HIM
In the best Latin American tradition of the macho-man, Hugo Chávez is known for his many
sentimental affairs, ranging from a low-origins first wife who bore him three children to the
woman who made him into an educated man, and an attractive second wife who helped
him gain the presidency back in 1998. Plus many others, including top-model Naomi Campbell.

--Chapter 8: FATHER FIDEL
When he got out of prison in 1994 after his failed coup attempt, Hugo Chávez was invited
to visit Havana and given royal treatment by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who brilliantly
realized the hidden potential of the Venezuelan paratrooper commander. Chávez was charmed.
He had found the father he had always longed for.

--Chapter 9: IF ONLY THEY WOULD LOVE ME
Diagnosed by most psychiatrists (including his own) as a man with a serious narcissistic
disturbance, Hugo Chávez desperately needs to be loved --and in the spotlight. But he's never
satiated, nor can he be. So, like Sysyphus, he's forever doomed to try and try again.

--Chapter 10: BUSH, THE KING AND THE WAY AHEAD
The man who called George W. Bush "the Devil" in the UN General Assembly hall in NYC
and who was told to shut up by the Spanish King in a summit meeting in Chile can still keep
more than a surprise in his bag of tricks. What his ultimate fate will be no one knows, but one
thing is certain: it'll make the news.

OP PHOENIX: THE UNTOLD STORY

2008-03-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

By Julio Rivas Pita

with Pablo Rivas Rueda

Reproduction forbidden in any form without the authors' permission in writing

The following is a brief excerpt of the upcoming book

Chávez for Americans

In the early hours of Saturday, March 1, 2008, radio and TV stations and the websites of newspapers all around the world had news bulletins announcing the killing of one of the most wanted terrorists ever: "Raúl Reyes", the effective man-in-command of the oldest guerrilla in the Americas, the vicious Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), known for its brutality and its dealings in drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping.

"Reyes", 59, (his real name was Luis Edgar Devia Silva) was killed by a GPS-guided missile launched from a twin-engine A37 tactical support plane dating back from the Vietnam war, in a carefully planned operation employing state-of-the-art technology that included satellite photographs covering 300 square kilometers around the Putumayo river, a natural border line separating Colombia and Ecuador.

The mission, code-named "Operación Fénix" (Operation Phoenix) had been planned with the assistance of American and Israeli experts, including American personnel at the U.S.-leased Manta tracking station in Ecuador. "Reyes" hideout happened to be in the Ecuadorean jungle, just 1,8 kilometers away from the Colombian border --something he to the last minute thought would make him immune to a Colombian attack.

Ironically, the most important piece of the puzzle that led to "Reyes" death was a satellital call made to him by U.S. arch-foe and FARC supporter Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, the man who the next day would hold a minute of silence for him in his Sunday radio and TV show "Aló, Presidente" ("Hello, Mr. President"), calling him "a hero of the Revolution".

Chávez's call to "Reyes" satellital phone Friday night had been tracked by a super-secret monitoring network whose details are known to only a very small number of Colombia's top intelligence officers, and was almost instantly relayed to President Alvaro Uribe's office at the Palacio de Nariño, in downtown Bogotá.

The call's coordinates showed "Reyes" to be in the vicinity of Santa Rosa, near the Putumayo river across the border from Colombia.

At half-past ten in the evening Uribe, who had been meeting for the last few hours with his Defence Minister and Colombia's top military commanders, gave his final nod for "Operación Fénix" to begin. It was going to be the most important military operation against the FARC in many years, and in the ensuing hours would bring several Latin American countries to the brink of war.

“Raúl Reyes” wasn’t in fact FARC’s number 2 man but its real leader. “Number 1”, “Manuel Marulanda”, also known as “Tirofijo” (“Sureshot”) was in critical condition in Venezuela under Chávez’s protection, according to intelligence reports. “Tirofijo”, whose real name is Pedro Antonio Marín, was suffering from an advanced cancer condition, and had delegated all his powers in Reyes, who had a sentimental liaison with his daughter, Olga Marín.

Reyes was considered the FARC’s mastermind behind the drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion operations, and directly responsible for the deaths of over 150 people, including 13 police officers, 18 soldiers, the former minister of Culture Consuelo Araújo, senator Diego Turbay and his mother, a Catholic bishop, monsignor Isaías Duarte, the governor of Antioquia Guillermo Gaviria, former Defence minister Gilberto Echeverri and 11 deputies from Valle del Cauca’s legislative Assembly.

He was also FARC’s international spokesman and the man negotiating the fate of its over 700 hostages, among them former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, their most famous prisoner, who had been kidnapped 5 years ago while in campaign.

Three of the hostages were Americans: Thomas Howes, 54, Marc Gonsalves, 35, and Keith Stansell, 43. The three men were Defense Department contractors whose anti-drug surveillance plane crashed in February 2003 in FARC-held territory.

Reyes’s demise would be a resounding military, political and propaganda success for Uribe’s government, commited to an all-out fight against the narco-guerrilla that counts with the direct support of the United States through the “Plan Colombia”, and the backing of the European Union.

General Freddy Padilla de León, commander of Colombia’s Armed Forces, who was with Uribe when he gave the final nod to “Operation Phoenix”, took out his Nokia mobile phone and dialed a number in Ecuador.

Padilla didn’t greet the other person on the line but just said:

-I’m sending you the biscuits and the arequipe (a sweet brown paste served as dessert)

-Thanks a lot – said the voice on the other side of the line before hanging up.

Padilla looked at Uribe and nodded in approval. There would not be any problems.

Unlike left-wing president Rafael Correa, whose sympathy towards the FARC (just like Chávez’s) is no secret, most of Ecuador’s military are concerned about the narco-guerrilla as much as their Colombian counterparts. The same applies to most Venezuelan officers, who still remember with resentment and anger the Cararabo and Cutufí massacres, two border outposts that the FARC attacked by surprise in the 90’s. In both cases young recruits and Venezuelan officers were slaughtered by the narco-guerrilla, who made a point of torturing and killing them in a very gruesome way.

Padilla’s call to the anonymous person in Ecuador had been scheduled long before and it guaranteed the men of “Operation Phoenix” that the green light had been given on the other side of the border too --which was a key point for the success of the mission. There was absolutely no room for any mistakes that could lead to an eventual skirmish with Ecuadorean troops and trigger an international incident.

In the American-leased Air Force base of Manta in the Ecuadorean Pacific coast, a night-shift duty officer received a seemingly routine call which was in fact an alert that “Phoenix” was on his way flying to its objective near Santa Rosa and the Putumayo river.

The Manta base --leased to the United States by Ecuador in 1999 as part of the efforts to control the clandestine drug trafficking flights in the area-- has cutting edge technology capable of tracking airships in the airspace of both Ecuador and Colombia, and even parts of Venezuela. Correa has said that he won’t renew the leasing when it expires in November 2009. The computer-controlled sophisticated Manta radars would play an important role in making sure that “Phoenix” wouldn’t find any surprises along the way.

At midnight, 4 Blackhawk UH-60 helicopters, carrying 44 especially selected commandoes of the Rapid Deployment Forces of Colombia (FUDRA) were approaching the Ecuadorean border. On the ground, Colombian’s Army elite units had been in position since days before, and in the Air Base of Tres Esquinas, in the Department (State) of Caquetá 5 Brazilian made Super Tucan EMB314 and 3 American A-37 (twin-engine tactical support aircraft that were first used in the Vietnam war) were ready to take off , the latter carrying a lethal load of GPS-guided “intelligent bombs” --virtually infallible when it comes to hitting their target.

Some highly secret details of the operation will probably never come to light. Such as the identity of the informant who was part of Reyes intimate circle and played a crucial role in tracking his whereabouts, or the contents of a confidential report handed to Uribe days before by a high-ranking Israeli official. Some contradictions between the Colombian and Ecuadorean accounts of what happened that night will in all probability remain unsolved too, Colombia insists that the attack was carried from its own aerial space. When some very sensitive points are raised, the very few who know will remain silent.

The first “intelligent bombs” launched by the Colombian A-37s hit Reyes camp at 0:25 a.m. (March 1 ) and they were as accurate as expected. A few minutes later the Blackhawks with the FUDRA’s elite commandos made their appearance. They had very precise instructions on what they had to look for and what they had to do once they found it.

Reyes, who was in his pajamas, died in the attack. Among the 24 dead there were at least 4 Mexican students recruited by the FARC’s propagandists at the UNAM (Universidad Autónoma de Mexico) and a Colombian soldier, the only casualty on the attackers’ side.

Reyes corpse, covered with a blanket, was introduced in one of the helicopters after being photographed on site, as inarguable proof of his death. But he wasn’t the most valued trophy of the operation.

Just as the confident whose identity will never be known said, the FUDRA commandos found, undamaged, what they were told to find: three Toshiba laptops.

What was inside the files in their hard-drives could very well start a war between several countries.

The Colombian president’s first call to his Ecuadorean colleague Correa was made well before daybreak.

Uribe explained to Correa that Colombian troops had found Reyes and engaged in combat against the FARC guerrillas, which had retreated to their camp in Ecuador, forcing the Colombians to start a “hot-pursuit” and to order the camp’s bombing by the Air Force. But Uribe assured him that the Colombian planes hadn’t trespassed Ecuador’s airspace, launching their GPS-guided “intelligent bombs” from their own aerial space.

Correa, completely astounded, heard Uribe’s explanation without knowing what to say. Apparently he accepted, for the moment, the Colombian’s president version.

But right after he hung up, he called Hugo Chávez, a known insomniac, who was still awake in Caracas.

When he heard what Correa had to say, Chávez understood that he was facing a crisis of unprecedented dimensions.

Astute and intuitive, Chávez understood that what was ahead of him and Correa could mean a devastating blow to both. Chávez told the Ecuadorean to immediately order an investigation on Reyes camp’s attack, and that in no case should he accept any excuses from Uribe to justify the violation of his country’s territory.

The conversation between them – the first of many they would have during that day – lasted over an hour, and was constantly interrupted by reports that were being delivered to both. Before six in the morning, Correa, who took a quick shower and dressed in a hurry, was having a meeting with his minister of Defense, Wellington Sandoval, the minister of Internal Affairs, Gustavo Larrea, General Héctor Camacho, chief of the Ecuadorean Armed Forces, and the commander of the Air Force, General Jorge Gabela, among others.

As more reports were coming in, Correa’s anger mounted, especially against the military officers in the room. One of the most tense moments was when the commander of the Air Force, General Gabela, had to explain, embarrassed, that the closest radar to Santa Rosa (the zone where the FARC’s camp was located) was not operational because it had been under maintenance for the previous couple of days.

Definitely the day was starting on a wrong note for many people. But it would soon get worse.

About "Chávez for Americans"...

2008-03-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

In the early hours of Saturday, March 1, 2008, news bulletins around the world announced
the killing of one of the world's most wanted terrorists, "Raúl Reyes", the effective man in
command of the oldest guerrilla in the Americas, Colombia's FARC.

Among his belongings were three Toshiba laptops, now in the hands of Colombian law
enforcement authorities, and being subject to a technical analysis by a three-man team
of experts from Interpol.

The files and hard-drives of those three laptops are said to incriminate Venezuela's President
Hugo Chávez in illegal support of the FARC, and U.S. President George W. Bush recently
said that Mr. Chávez's links to the narcoterrorist group are "closer than had been thought".

"Recently, when Colombian forces killed one of the FARC's most senior leaders, they
discovered computer files that suggest even closer ties between Venezuela's regime and FARC
terrorists than we previously knew," he said in a speech in Jacksonville, Florida.

Mr. Chávez has been in the news for quite a long time now --and in all
probability will stay there, if not for decades to come, at least for years.

An unwanted child raised by a very poor grandmother in a small village of the Venezuelan
Plains, who wore his first real shoes when he was 12, Chávez has most spectacularly risen
to become the U.S. arch-foe and Mr. Bush's nemesis.

How did it happen?

Chávez for Americans sets out to explain it.

Based on interviews and private talks with dozens of diplomats, journalists, political and
military analysts and confidents in Venezuela, Colombia, Spain and the U.S.A., the book has
been written with the average American reader in mind, showing him/her how the Venezuelan
President impacts his/her life, from gas prices to heating-oil for Brooklyn's poor, the unstable
Middle East policies and the alliances with China, Russia and Iran --not to mention Fidel
Castro's Cuba or his open support for theFARC, a terrorist group that deals in drug trafficking
and currently keeps three U.S. citizens among its more than 700 hostages, many of them held
captive for years in Colombia's jungle.

About the Author

Spanish-born journalist Julio Rivas Pita has been a correspondent for foreign media in Latin
America for almost three decades. A former AP and UPI newswriter and editor, he has covered
Mr. Chávez since his failed coup-attempt back in Feb. 4, 1992, when he transformed overnight
an embarrasing military fiasco into an outstanding political victory.

He's the author of "Chávez para Españoles" ("Chávez for Spaniards"), a different version for
the Spanish-speaking public.

Chávez for Americans: The Book

2008-03-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

Everything you always wanted to know about the U.S. arch-foe, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez:

**Why he hates George W. Bush, "The Devil"
**His "Axis of Evil" friends, from Cuba's Fidel Castro to Iran's Ahmadinejad
**Is he financing the Colombian FARC narco-terrorists?
**His large arms purchases to Putin's Russia, including advanced Sukhoi jet-fighters and attack submarines
**Why Israel considers him a serious threat
**His allies in the U.S.A.
**How he impacts in your life, from gas prices to free heating-oil for the poor