In the shadow of the liberator

"Hugo Chavez, elected President of Venezuela in December 1998 with a large popular mandate, is the most intriguing political figure to have emerged in Latin America since Fidel Castro. A former army colonel with a philosophy of left-wing nationalism, he staged an unsuccessful coup in 1992 and spent two years in prison, yet his fierce opposition to the country's corrupt and unpopular ruling elite turned him into a popular hero."--BOOK JACKET.