Hugo Chávez was a true phenomenon. On his death in March 2013 tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets and honoured a seven-day period of national mourning. Chávez has been compared to Napoleon, Nasser, Perón and Castro but the truth is there has never been a leader like him. He was democratically elected, reigned like a monarch from a mobile television throne, and provoked adoration and revulsion in equal measure.
How did a charismatic autocrat seduce not just a nation but a significant part of world opinion? And how did he continue to stay in power despite the crumbling of Venezuela? When he first came to power in 1999, Chávez became a symbol of hope and freedom for his people. Yet, in his fourteen years as president, Chávez seized control of the lucrative Venezuelan oil industry, allowed basic government functions to wither, jailed political opponents and courted Castro and Ahmadinejad, all while occupying much of Venezuela's airwaves with his long-running television show, Aló Presidente!.
In Comandante, acclaimed journalist Rory Carroll breaches the walls of Miraflores Palace to tell the inside story of Chávez's life and his political court in Caracas. Blending the lyricism and strangeness of magical realism with the brutal, ugly truth of authoritarianism - a powerful combination reminiscent of Ryszard Kapuscinski's The Emperor - Rory Carroll has written the definitive account of Hugo Chávez's presidency, and the legacy he has left behind.
Updated since Chavez's death in March 2013, Comandante is the definitive account of Chavez's presidency, an authoritative chronicle of one of history's most fascinating leaders and his legacy.
'An excellent appraisal of the charismatic leader . . . Carroll gets as close as any outsider to life inside the palace' Guardian
Hugo Chavez was a true phenomenon, a democratically electeed leader whose revolutionary aspirations made him a symbol of hope for many of his peopel. Hero to some and despot to others, he remains as divisive in death as during his fourteen-year rule. As his followers mourned their great leader, critics across the world asked: what is the crumbling reality behind the illusion Chavez cast of a thriving Venezuela?
Based in Venezuela for years as the Guardian's chief correspondent in Latin America, Rory Carroll has written the unprecendented inside story of Chavez's life and his political court in Caracas.
Superb, witty and subtle... Carroll listens to the people, catching shades, inflections, blighted hopes, distilling common decency
