Who Knew Hugo Chavez Had Oprah-Like Powers?*

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

imageSure, 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: South America, Venezuela


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

Kelsey 09.22.06 | 3:43 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 | 2:03 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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