Learning Venezuela
First day of talks here in Caracas is complete. We heard from a couple of professors--one an expert on the overall history of modern Venezuela, the other an expert on the oil industry. Some interesting facts:

• The society here is very polarized. The majority of the people, who are poor, support Hugo Chavez and think he´s doing great things. The middle and upper classes think he´s a murderer who´s destroying Venezuela. The two sides rarely talk or try to compromise. Some middle-class families and neighborhoods are bitterly divided.
• Chavez´s speech are frequently extremely derogatory of the upper classes; the first professor who spoke said that she supports Chavez for the most part, but can´t stand to listen to his insults for more than ten minutes.
• Gasoline costs 17 cents per gallon here.

Mas tarde.

For some very scary insights from Iraq, be sure to read Juan Cole regularly.