Who Knew Hugo Chavez Had Oprah-Like Powers?*

Travel Blog  •  Jim Benning  •  09.22.06 | 1:29 PM ET

hegemony

Sure, like Oprah, the Venezuelan president has the gift of gab. But it turns out Chavez, too, can sell books—lots of them. After he recommended Noam Chomsky’s Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance at the U.N. Wednesday, the book shot up bestseller lists. What’s more, Chavez is a big fan of “Don Quixote,” and last year, he handed out a million free copies of the book in Venezuelan squares to celebrate its 400th anniversary—yet another Oprah-esque gesture. Any poli-sci graduate students searching for a thesis topic?
* Added: Chomsky will be discussing “Hegemony or Survival” on C-SPAN2’s Book TV Sunday.

Tags: Global Village, South America, Venezuela, News and Briefs


2 Comments for Who Knew Hugo Chavez Had Oprah-Like Powers?*

Kelsey 09.22.06 | 4:43 PM ET

Jim, I thought the same thing when I heard about Chomsky’s book being #1 on amazon.

Wouldn’t it be great if Chavez continued down the Oprah path and landed his own talk show?  Relating back to a recent World Hum post - he could do a few episodes on his across-the-USA road trip with his best girlfriend. 

Now that would be some great television.

How do you think Chavez takes his Big Macs?

Jim 09.23.06 | 3:03 PM ET

That’s funny, Kelsey. From what I understand, Chavez has a tendency to ramble on for hours on Venezuelan TV—Castro-like—and he invites guests on, too. So he may not be too far away from such a show already.

And regarding the road trip: Given Venezuela’s vast oil supply, he’d have little trouble fueling such a thing. That would have to be something he could do with his best buddy Fidel—perhaps in a 50s Chevy straight from the streets of Havana.

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