Today is the 9 year anniversary of the Venezuelan coup attempt against President Hugo Chavez. I first heard about Hugo Chavez back in 2002 right before the failed coup attempt. The Western media has a tendency to demonize Chavez while in many academic circles around the world, Chavez is viewed as the new Che Guevara. What does seems clear is that big business, MNCs, oil companies, etc., view Chavez as a threat due to his policies to redistribute the wealth to the poor indigenous Venezuelans.
In regards to the failed coup attempt, many people outside of Venezuela do not realize at how popular Hugo Chavez is to the people of Venezuela. Their views were similar to the view of one of my white Venezuelan friends who called Chavez a monkey (Chavez is an indigenous Venezuelan) even though a large majority of Venezuelans viewed him as a savior.
Whether you like Chavez or not, you should definitely view the following award winning Irish documentary about the 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chavez. It will show Hugo Chavez at a different light.