Reply #4: amen....read the comments at the PBS site. they sound similar to those here, running the gamut: [View All]

[Gabi Hayes]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hugochavez/talk/

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have many reservations about Chavez. I saw the Human Rights Watch report and I did agree with some parts of the program -- but clearly your documentary was not meant to be an objective assessment of his tenure. I hope you will at least admit that much.

There are repeated references to Chavez criticism of the US and poor relations with the US -- but I don't believe the neoliberal agenda of US foreign policy in Latin America was mentioned even a single time -- nor was the long history of US meddling in Latin American affairs. This is the substance of the criticism from Latin American leaders who are at odds with US policy in the region -- virtually nowhere to be found.

Quite tellingly, there was also no serious examination of the US role in the 2002 coup -- a critical issue for Venezuela US relations -- other than a comment about "rumors" to that effect. Lawyer Eva Golinger wrote two detailed books on the subject -- but never appears on the program even a single time. Instead, you spend more time on Chavez's exchange with a Guardian reporter on the Chavez tv show -- or play excerpts of Chavez singing songs.

Another problem is that we hear only about a few economic projects that failed (and of course, we should hear about that) -- and nothing about the improved economic prospects there with the increase in GDP and decrease in unemployment and poverty.

http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/venezuela_2007_07.pdf

Why didn't we hear about these figures -- did it not fit into your narrative? Finally, you ignored numerous experts like Richard Gott, Nikolas Kozloff, Gregory Wilpert (who provides a systematic overview of Chavez's policies and performance), Mark Weisbrot (another expert on the economy), and Bart Jones. And instead rely primarily on former opposition candidates, right wing publications like the the economist, and Jon Lee Anderson who's critique is in line with the almost exclusively negative US reporting -- at least you didn't consult Jackson Diehl from the Post. (And all the links to interviews on the PBS site are critics). Some of the supporters in the barrios are portrayed as 'uneducated' no-nothings and since you primarily rely on critics for expert analysis -- this also has to be questioned.

Of course, you are entitled to your point of view just like I am -- but I was hoping to see something different than the caricature of Chavez in much of the US media -- and was disappointed to a large degree. This documentary largely followed in that narrative.