Letters to the Editor
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Follow up
LBS,
I have no disputes with the fact that the US has meddled in Latin American affairs. However, Venezuela is not necessarily one of the major victims of this meddling. For example, Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1976 under Perez (who, by the way, Chavez led a coup against in 1992 when he was elected a second time), and if that wasn't a time for interference I don't know what would have been (at least if you were Exxon, you would have thought that way).
I would challenge you to show that the coup against Chavez was caused by the US. The proximal cause was a group of Chavez loyalist semi-militia folks firing into a crowd of demonstrators and killing 21 of them. Now the US shamefully didn't condemn or do anything about the coup against an elected government, but I don't think there is much evidence that the US instigated said coup (aside from Chavez' claims that the US is out to get him). Note that Chavez has not always been particularly popular--poverty rose during the early years of his presidency and GDP shrank. Those things have been reversed thanks to the high oil price, but when the coup and general strikes happened he was not in as good a position as he is now.
That's not to say that Chavez hasn't done things for the poor--he most definitely has. My issues with him are his disrespect for the rule of law and/or his apparent desire to set himself up as a strongman.