Last April, Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, was deposed in a dramatic coup reminiscent of more troubled times in Latin America. With tear gas in the air, sharpshooters and armed gunmen exchanged fire across a crowded street, turning an opposition march heading toward the Presidential Palace into a bloody melee. Images of the terrible scene were shown across the country (and across the world) on half of a split screen, while on the other half Chávez denounced an ongoing strike and the march. The televised images did not last long. Accusing the private television stations of incitement, Chávez took them off the air and continued his speech without mention of the violence. But these images had tremendous consequences. By day's end, in response to the violence, the Armed Forces' High Command had stepped in and demanded that Chávez resign, and the next morning Venezuela awoke to find that it had a new president, a dull business leader by the name of Pedro Carmona.
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(Review of "In the Shadow of the Liberator: Hugo Chavez and the Transformation of Venezuela" by Richard Gott, Published by Verso Books.)