Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Venezuela is experiencing a genuine socialist revolution. Hugo Chávez has promised millions of impoverished people a new utopia. Using billions of dollars of oil profits, he is lifting 'the people' out of poverty by providing them with free education, cheap food and Cuban doctors. This media-savvy authoritarian maverick rails against the wealthy and the United States, idolises Castro and Gaddafi, draws inspiration from Islamic rebels and is arming himself against an invasion from Curaçao. He intends to remain in power until at least 2021.
In The Oil King, Edwin Koopman paints a sobering portrait of a divided country. What started as an investigation into the origins of a Latin American revolution turned into a deeply personal story of power, ideals, hatred, passion, and disappointment.
Cover: Design Studio Jan de Boer / Image ©Reporters/AP/Leslie Mazoch
