Table of Contents
Map of Venezuela x
Introduction to the 2011 Edition xiii
Introduction to the 2005 Edition 1
Part 1 Portrait of a President
1 A Baseball Game in Havana, November 1999 11
2 The Disintegration of the Ancien Régime 19
3 Provincial Origins in Barinas 25
4 From Barinas to Caracas: The Irresistible Flight from the Countryside 28
Part 2 Preparing for a Bolivarian Rebellion
5 The Development of a Military Conspiracy 35
6 Banished to Elorza: Experiments in Civil-Military Cooperation 41
7 February 1989 (1): Rebellion in Caracas, the Caracazo 43
8 February 1989 (2): The Neo-Liberal 'Package' That Destroyed the Pérez Government 49
9 The Debate Between Military and Civilian Revolutionaries 57
10 The'Military Intervention' of Chávez, February 1992 63
11 The Failed Coup d'État of Admiral Grüber, November 1992 71
12 The Patriotic Front of Civilian Revolutionaries 76
13 Latin America's Experience of Radical Military Rebellion 81
Part 3 Recovering the Revolutionary Traditions of the Nineteenth Century
14 The Legacy of Simón Bolívar, the Liberator 91
15 Robinson Crusoe and the Philosophy of Simón Rodríguez 102
16 Ezequiel Zamora Invokes 'Horror a la Oligarquía' 110
Part 4 Organising the Overthrow of the Ancien Régime By Peaceful Means, 1992-1998
17 Yare Prison and the Search for Political Allies 119
18 Politics in Guayana and the Rise of La Causa R 125
19 Chávez's Election Victory, December 1998 134
Part 5 Chávez in Power: The Early Years
20 The Constitutional Assembly and the New Constitution 143
21 When the Heavens Opened 150
22 Planning for an 'Endogenous' Agricultural Future 157
23 The New Politics of Oil 166
24 Divisions over the Economic Programme 173
25 Reforming the Judiciary 180
26 Developing a 'Bolivarian' Foreign Policy 183
27 Colombia: The Violent Neighbour 192
28 New Rights for Indigenous Peoples 199
29 The Changing Character of the Opposition 206
30 The Old Trade Unions Oppose the Revolution, October 2001 210
Part 6 The Three Opposition Attempts to Overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution
31 The Revolutionary Decrees of November 2001, the Resignation of Luís Miquilena, and the Mobilisation of the Opposition 217
32 The First Opposition Threat: The Coup and Counter-Coup of April 2002 223
33 The Atmosphere after the April Coup 238
34 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse': The Media War 245
35 The Second Opposition Threat: The 'Economic Coup' of December 2002 249
36 Providing Food and Education to the People: The Development of the 'Missions', 2003-2004 256
37 The Third Opposition Threat: The Recall Referendum of August 2004 260
Epilogue: The Military and Civil Society 269
A Song for Bolívar 275
Appendix A Chávez and Castro in Havana 277
Appendix B The Rights of Indigenous Peoples 286
Appendix C Sauce of Wonder 289
Postscript: Venezuela In 2011 293
Bibliography 325
Index 333
