Caracas Chronicles

Thanks to everyone for wedding wishes. I declare this break over.

Quico says: The April 11th crucible will not be forgotten. Check out Robert Amsterdam’s bit on Brian Nelson’s book on April 11th over on the Huffington Post. It, and the accompanying interview, should be read widely.

Seven years on, the controversy surrounding the coup simply will not be put to sleep, because how you interpret the coup is how you interpret Chávez:

“If you believe that the opposition initiated the violence; that they placed gunmen at the head of the march and wanted to cause deaths to spark a coup, then Hugo Chávez is a victim,” wrote Nelson in his email to me. “But if you believe that the Chávez government initiated the violence; that the National Guard troops and loyalists opened fire on the march to keep it from surrounding the palace, then Hugo Chávez is not the victim, he is the aggressor. (…) If this is what you believe, then Hugo Chávez has lost his legitimacy and he should, at the very least, be placed on trial.”

No wonder chavismo is so keen to debunk his research.