Was delighted to read this personal account and analysis of the Hugo Chavez years in Venezuela by Steve Gutkin. Very good and evocative piece, viagra 100mg Steve.

http://goastreets.in/goa-news/hugo-chavez/
– Vivek Menezes

Superb!
Whatever I’ve seen of Goa Streets till now (and I’ve become an avid follower) has been impressive. Once again, great mag, and it’s good to see something so good coming out, from Goa or Jhumritalaiya or New York, makes no difference.
– Vidyadhar Gadgil

It is a fine publication, Vidyadhar, and it should keep getting better.
– Victor Rangel-Ribeiro

Congrats on a piece well written and which was an eye-opener in many ways for me.
– Veena Patwardhan

Your article about Chavez was riveting. I am certain that there are few people who could write such an intimate and insightful article about this man, and it revealed a character that few – especially in the US – could possibly know. Just my two cents, but wanted you to know how much I enjoyed the article. Thank you for writing such a great piece!
– Leah Roberts

Loved your article about Chavez. What a history and whiplash for Venezuela.
– Allegra Alessandri Pfeifer

India lacks a leader like him.
– Natesh Chandra

He proved that Socialism does work and there are people and countries who say NO to uncle Sam right into his eyes.
– Rajiv Kishore

I read the piece as coming with the usual dose of strong US-bias, specially against Third World leaders who have the guts to stand up to the lone surviving global empire of the day. Which makes me think: does a “free press” really have to toe the line of national policy (or self interest) so strongly? Can it really claim to be “free” if it does so?
Forget the “duality” in Chavez’s persona, isn’t there always a duality in all our writing, specially journalistic, which talks about “coup attempt and subsequent rise to president” (interesting, the word elections is not mentioned here!), the attempts to explain away his popularity, comparing “deeply-flawed socialism” with “crony” capitalism (again, an interesting choice of words) and so on…
I don’t think the dominant media of the West would ever understand what makes an individual at the other end of the globe think of the just-dead 58-year-old leader of a tiny country. Or why the Third World finds its heroes in people like Thomas Sankara, Sukarno, or even the Robert Mugabe of another era and Julius Nyerere. Despite all their many shortcomings….
– Frederick Noronha

Thanks for all those kind words. Frederick, I appreciate your perspective. I’m someone with a deep attachment to Venezuela and Colombia. Between the two neighbouring countries, I lived there for 11 years. I was privileged to know Chavez, as well as many people who suffered under his rule. My friends include people who lost everything, were forced into exile or who were silenced because of their opposition to Chavismo. At the same time, I would never underestimate or disparage the hope Chavez gave to many, many people.
In my years covering Chavez, I spent time in his home village trying to find out who he was. He grew up poor in the village of Sabaneta, dreaming of one day becoming a professional baseball player. He never forgot a face or a name, and he wrote notes to each person he met along his ascent to the top, making them all feel special. We all felt a sense of awe when this poor kid from the ‘barrios’ came to power through the ballot box – something no one ever thought was possible. What ensued cannot easily be put into neat categories of good or bad. I saw the hope and jubilation first hand, but also the suffering. I was there to bear witness, not sit in judgment.
– Steve Gutkin

The Tiatr piece was very informative. Would love to attend a Tiatr some day soon. I didn’t know this theatre form was experimenting so much.
– Salil Chaturvedi

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