robinson. eugene covered venezuela for the post in the 90s when he was working at the post s bureau in buenos aires. thanks for being here. it s great to be here, rachel. do you think that hugo chavez was effectively the monster that he was made out to be in this country? he was obviously cartoonishly oppositional to us, but that led to some cartoonish characterizing of him too, didn t it? it did. there was nobody quite like him. charismatic. he could act like a buffoon, but he was very smart and obviously, and tenacious and determined. was he a tyrant? you should remember he was democratically elected president of venezuela three times. with healthy majorities. and it is very clear that he had popular support. why did he have popular support? because for many, many years, for many decades, the poor of venezuela had been ignored by a
washington post and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. eugene covered venezuela for the post in the 90s when he was working at the post s bureau in buenos aires. thanks for being here. it s great to be here, rachel. do you think that hugo chavez was effectively the monster that he was made out to be in this country? he was obviously cartoonishly oppositional to us, but that led to some cartoonish characterizing of him too, didn t it? it did. there was nobody quite like him. charismatic. he could act like a buffoon, but he was very smart and obviously, and tenacious and determined. was he a tyrant? you should remember he was democratically elected president of venezuela three times with healthy majorities. and it is very clear that he had popular support. why did he have popular support? because for many, many years, for many decades, the poor of venezuela had been ignored by a corrupt political class and
stunt, a presidential gift, a book written nearly 40 years ago about how european and american policies have hurt latin america. welcome to your relationship with venezuela, new mr. president. enjoy your stay. it s not like the new president then could not see this sort of thing happening from hugo chavez. at the time president chavez had just recently expelled america s ambassador to his country, insisting that the ambassador was plotting a coup to oust mr. chavez from office. mr. chavez held a televised rally after sending the american ambassador home, telling a throng of supporters, quote, go to hell a hundred times, bleeping yankees. well, hugo chavez died today at the age of 58. he lost a two-year battle with an undisclosed form of cancer, and the united states lost a man who had positioned himself for more than a decade now as america s chief foe in its own hemisphere. during his 14 years in power, hugo chavez maintained a provocative and at times
provocative and at times cartoonishly oppositional stance when it comes to his relationship with the u.s. government. he buddy up ostentatiously with the castro brothers in cuba. he allayed himself with mahmoud ahmadinejad, the president of iran. he signed oil contracts with the chinese government. he bought weapons and fighter jets from the russians. hugo chavez, while he was in power, while he was still a player on the world stage, became in this country almost a figure of fun for playing up his opposition to american leaders in very over-the-top ways, particularly when it came to former president george w. bush. the devil came here yesterday. translator: yesterday the devil came here. right here. right here. and it smells of sulfur still today. . that was in 2006. hugo chavez referring to president george w. bush as the
washington post and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. eugene covered venezuela for the post in the 90s when he was working at the post s bureau in buenos aires. thanks for being here. it s great to be here, rachel. do you think that hugo chavez was effectively the monster that he was made out to be in this country? he was obviously cartoonishly oppositional to us, but that led to some cartoonish characterizing of him too, didn t it? it did. there was nobody quite like him. charismatic. he could act like a buffoon, but he was very smart and obviously, and tenacious and determined. was he a tyrant? you should remember he was democratically elected president of venezuela three times with healthy majorities. and it is very clear that he had popular support. why did he have popular support? because for many, many years, for many decades, the poor of venezuela had been ignored by a corrupt political class and