Gill, Timothy M. Pittsburgh, 2022
Even casual observers of Latin America quickly become aware of the heavy imperial hand of the US in the region. Gill (sociology, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville) here details the so-called democracy promotion programs that the US government pursued to undermine the progressive administrations of Hugo Chávez (1999–2013) and Nicolás Maduro (2013–present) in Venezuela. It did this through the National Endowment for Democracy and its four core associated agencies—the Republican Party’s International Republican Institute, the Democratic Party’s National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the US Chamber of Commerce’s Center for International Private Enterprise, and the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center—alongside US Agency for International Development and Department of State initiatives. These programs had a more dramatic influence on Venezuelan politics than covert CIA operations. This book provides a useful update to such classic works as Eva Golinger's The Chávez Code (CH, Mar'07, 44-4107), Gregory Wilpert's Changing Venezuela by Taking Power (2007), Steve Ellner’s Rethinking Venezuelan Politics (CH, Sep'08, 46-0537), and George Ciccariello-Maher's We Created Chávez (2013). It also offers an important counterpoint to William Neuman’s Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse (CH, Feb'23, 60-1794).
Summing Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals.
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