Venezuela | ReVista

A “Revolutionary Process” Unfolds: In the Absence of a Well Defined Plan

Sep 17, 2008 | Venezuela

What do you think of Hugo Chávez? Are you for or against him? Venezuelans inevitably confront these questions when we travel or meet people unfamiliar with our ideas. Unless one stands at one of the two opposite poles dominating political life in Venezuela during this last decade, it is hard to answer them. A generalized Manichean mind-set tends to push and flatten every position towards the extreme ends and nuanced views …

The Politics of Identity: Bolívar and Beyond

Sep 17, 2008 | Democracy and 21st Century Socialism, Venezuela

English + Español
Easter Sunday, the last day of Holy Week, fills Venezuela’s Catholic churches with religious fervor, and the beaches and recreation spots with exuberant Dionysian paganism. On the Day of Resurrection Venezuela, like the rest of Latin America, celebrates the holiday as a day of rejoicing in which the central act is the “burning” of the effigy of Judas. Residents of poor working-class communities, the “barrios,” create life-size grotesque …

After the Referendum: Reading the Defeat

Sep 17, 2008 | Democracy and 21st Century Socialism, Venezuela

English + Español
On December 2, 2007, Venezuela voters rejected President Hugo Chávez’s proposed constitutional reform. That reform, broadened by the National Assembly to encompass a total of 69 articles, would have led Venezuelan society at an accelerated pace towards “socialism of the 21st century.” With 94% of the results reported, the National Electoral Council’s second bulletin announced that slightly more than half …

Editor’s Letter: The Chávez Effect

Sep 17, 2008 | Editor's Letter, Venezuela

Long, long ago before I ever saw the skyscrapers of Caracas, long before I ever fished for cachama in Barinas with Pedro and Aída, long before I ever dreamed of ReVista, let alone an issue on Venezuela, I heard a song.
“Que triste vive mi gente en sus casas de cartón,” my Dominican friends played over and over again on their phonographs in our New York barrio. “How sadly live my people in their cardboard houses.” …

Chávez’s Venezuela: A New Magical State?

Sep 16, 2008 | Venezuela

What do you think of Hugo Chávez? Are you for or against him? Venezuelans inevitably confront these questions when we travel or meet people unfamiliar with our ideas. Unless one stands at one of the two opposite poles dominating political life in Venezuela during this last decade, it is hard to answer them. A generalized Manichean mind-set tends to push and flatten every position towards the extreme ends and nuanced views …

Country: Venezuela

A “Revolutionary Process” Unfolds: In the Absence of a Well Defined Plan

The Politics of Identity: Bolívar and Beyond

After the Referendum: Reading the Defeat

Editor’s Letter: The Chávez Effect

Chávez’s Venezuela: A New Magical State?