Dear FRONTLINE,

It seems like some folks in the Bush administration have thrown their weight around with the CPB to get some last licks in with this Chavez "documentary" on Frontline.

Putting aside the ridiculously biased narration, there WAS some interesting info in this presentation. In an America often consumed by apathy towards the Democratic Process, instead of some sort of 'goofy narcissism', I think Chavez' harnessing of his personality to engage the Venezuelan people into the political process demonstrates a certain kind of vision.

In any case, interesting that the show fails to investigate WHY the Venezuelan press turned against Chavez. Could it be the same source of money that seems to have corrupted our OWN US media was at play in 'changing their minds'?

And how is it that the show can be on its high horse with Chavez' failed election proposal when there are STILL so many indications that here in America our own democratic process was subverted in 2000 and 2004?

Also, as far as I know, Venezuela has been plagued with kidnapping epidemics long before Chavez came to power, so to blame him for THAT was sheer bias on the part of the producers of this show.

I don't doubt Chavez got carried away with his own power - as is clear by the very IDEA he wanted to be named "President for Life" - but this show was just pathetic - almost as bad as that Richard Perle episode of "America at a Crossroads" on PBS a few years back.

New York, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am pleasantly surprised. I was expecting yet another glassy-eyed, fawning tribute by Frontline, to yet another Left-wing totalitarian "fearless leader". I was astonished to see a somewhat clear-eyed account of some key recent political events in Venezuela.

I was unpleasantly surprised by some of the postings in this website. Some of the bloggers seem willfully impervious to the actual facts on the ground in Venezuala, choosing instead to hear only the lofty, naive, utterly dishonest and empty rhetoric of Chavez and his Socialist supporters. These people are living proof of the old saying "people get the government they deserve". I mean, is that saying accurate, or what?

If Chavez and Socialism are so great, then why don't 50% of all Venezuelans have college degrees today, why doesn't Venezuela have a Moon mission in the works, why haven't Venezuelan researchers recently found cures for some types of cancer, and why isn't the average income in Venezuela $75,000 a year? Chavez makes vast boat-loads and soccer stadiums full of rhetoric and bullshit, but actual real-world results are the only things that matter. Despite having limitless access to its oil wealth, Chavez is taking Venezuela slowly down the toilet. Even these supporting bloggers can not possibly deny that.

Another saying: "the TV camera does not lie". In his shows, Chavez comes across as exactly what he is: an utterly ignorant, self-indulgent, self aggrandizing man with increasingly totalitarian instincts. Knowing that this stupid, ignorant fool is the leader of a country while listening to him rant, threaten, boast and meander is truly painful.

There are specifically identifiable reasons why nearly all of Central and South America is corrupt, ignorant and poor, and has been for centuries. Chavez will probably squander most or all of Venezuela's oil wealth, and then he will flee or be murdered. And he will probably be replaced by another self-serving, astonishingly ignorant, lying fool, and the cycle will repeat.

I am sorry to say, Venezuela will probably still be corrupt, violent and desperately poor 200 years from now, and people similar to the bloggers in this website who are supporting Chavez will still be praising the same foolish, pathetic Socialist garbage that has devastated their people.

Wil Gomez
Santa Barbara, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

This is the first time I have watched a report that in my opinion is biased, very biased. Something that will cause me to question the validity, truth, and intentions of all episodes I watch in the future. It seems so out of character with the unbiased reporting you have done in the past.

Please investigate how something like this was able to make it on to the airwaves with "FRONTLINE" on the masthead.

John Haggerty
Buena Park, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

...as usual your program has shed light into a reality that many have difficulty is seeing. By reading some of the comments it is clear that many people believe in the "Ideas" that Chavez has sold the people of Venezuela for many years.

For me listening to Chavez speak is like listening to my father, whom also spent many years in the "Llanos of Venezuela". For them it all about pride, they are men that have great difficulty in accepting any type of short coming. He will certainly throw his own mother under the bus if it took him out of a perceived "Bad Light".

With that said, the bottom line is that Chavez is enamored with the concept of Legendary Greatness. But just does not possess the skill set to be an efficient governor of any political process. The only formal training he had was as a Military Officer, and he demonstrated he was lousy at that. In short and to be straight to the point, he is too ignorant to implement his ideological perspectives. I just feel sorrow for the people of Venezuela, their in for a very rude awakening in the near future.

Luis Alvarado
Los Angeles, California

Dear FRONTLINE,

Hi everyone, I'm from Caracas, Venezuela, I lived there for 18 years im actually 19, I had experienced all what you guys saw in this very good program. Im living in Canada for almost 2 years, i came here because in 2002 my dad who used to work in PDVSA (national oil company) join a nation wide protest against Chavez, he lost his job and also due to his apereance in the post re-election list he cant work there any more. We tried to stay as long as we could in Venezuela, but everyday was harder and harder, it was imposible.

Everything was becoming to hard and dangerous, almost every weekend it happened about 15 to 30 homicides and on holy days increase even more, kidnappings were overwhelming, just the last year i lost 2 friends 18 and 19 year old, and what people can see in this show its just a little part of the day living in Venezuela.

I have been into many protest against Chavez over there when almost in all of them i almost got shot, beaten up by the natinal guard and police officers or kidnaped,

i hate to see how my country gets worst and worst everyday and i feel terrible knowing that i cant do anything from here. Everyday more people are leaving Venezuela with the hope of getting a better lifestyle, just here in Calgary we are more than 1500 Venezuelans. I could write pages and pages about Venezuela ...thank you all for this program that shows the rest of the world what its going on over there.

Diego Jimenez
Calgary, Alberta

Dear FRONTLINE,

Finally an accurate doc on Chavez, the Venezuelan Bush. Congrats. You got it right this time.

Caracas, Miranda

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am a Venezuelan living in the US. When asked about what happens in Venezuela it becomes incredibly difficult to explain the Chavez phenomenon. I think this documentary gave a good portray to start understanding it.

Chavez was elected with the hope for a change and an increase in social justice, but the result has been a country reduced to pieces. Infrastructure, health system and institutions have been destroyed. The poor are poorer and anarchy is rampant.

The documentary gives also a good portrayal of why people followed him and put their hopes in him, as well as the messianic cult he was able to create around him thorough his charisma and control of the media.What my country has had to endure has been so much; there are so many examples of abuses, corruption, persecution, political prisoners, political refugees that have had to escape the country, etc; that I think any documentary would seem short in giving a full picture. However I think the one presented by frontline gives a good introduction.Thanks!

Cambridge, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

For all those Americans and Canadians that proudly pray about having a Chavez in their countries, I invite you to come to live with us here.

Learn what means to be "black listed" by the government for exercizing your right to vote in a referendum to revoke the president; learn what means to buy food and goods only when the government allows you to do it; learn what means to get your pension cut off because you do not support "the leader"; learn to leave in a country disbanded by hate promoted by one individual that can not tolerate difference of opinion. Come, please, come, live the reality, and then start writing all these stupid wishes about having a Hugo Chavez in your countries.

A Revolution admired from a comfortable seat in New York, Toronto or Paris is easy; come and live it and then we can discuss if Hugo Chavez is the solution.

Thanks PBS for a good documentary.

Alfredo C
Valera, Venezuela

Dear FRONTLINE,

Unfortunately for those of us that voted for Chavez back in 1998, his government has reverted to the same practices as previous ones: CORRUPTION, INEFFICIENCY and CHEAP RHETORIC, packaged as "socialism".

Chavez is a great actor, story-teller and announcer, his path should have been show business and not politics.

Marcotulio Moya
Caracas, Venezuela

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have read through the responses to date, and see that many true socialists in the US and Canada believe in the ideals, if not the practices, of Mr. Chavez. If it is the ideals that the people of Venezuela are voting for and not the man, then why is it necessary for him to continue in office beyond the currently mandated term limit? Perhaps some other leader would not make so many errors in practice and not be quite so obviously infatuated with himself.

Since part of this broadcast was focused on the use of the media, why no mention of the many celebrities/politicians from the US who Mr. Chavez uses when they visit him or accept his discounted oil offers?

I'm reminded of Jesse Jackson's response to Katrina which came live from Venezuela with Mr. Chavez at his side. Perhaps one of them could have offered their close-up view of the "better side" of Mr. Chavez that so many of your responders have asked for.

Roger Lachele
Dallas, TX

Dear FRONTLINE,

For the last five years I have felt that the Chavez regime needed to be taken seriously by the US administration.

There is much goodness and longing for freedom in Venezuela, widely misunderstood due to the critical and wrong-headed attitude we have adopted.

Whether Chavez is a friend of the United States is not a consideration, whether he is a believer in democracy and the dignity of man is primary.

Your documentary was as fair and open-minded as intelligent journalists could make it; those who see it as an unfair and totally biased capitalistic point of view, are forgiving some of the truly destructive things that his government has allowed to continue in a country with the engines for production and social welfare found in Venezuela.

The results of ten years trial and error with the Chavez show have left the nation confused and helpless on the magnitude of a nation immersed in civil war for the same period. There is no obvious answer to the leader-centered personality cult which has brought about this condition. In this country we have seen similar confusion and inefficiency during similar regimes. The fact remains that coperation and understanding can help turn a dangerous situation into a hopeful one and I look forward to a totally different approach toward all our American neighbors in the next administration.

Lets face it, it is a well accepted fact that we have ignored the conditions under our noses too long, the health and well being of nations in this hemisphere is primary to our own. The 19th century was the european, the 20th was the US's, the 21st will belong to Asia. In order to swing back to worldwide parity and international peace, the 22nd century must belong to Africa and South America.

William McCandless
Joliet, Illinois

Dear FRONTLINE,

I was very impressed with the documentary. It highlights the key problems of Hugo Chavez government. We left Venezuela just after he became president and believe that his government had a disastrous effect in the country.

Your documentary seems to cover only one side of the story. I would have liked to see interviews of other supporters or a list of programs that have worked. I would have liked to see third party analysis summarizing achievements and failures.

I think that Venezuela is a country with many possibilities, and hopefully, we will have a different leader that fully use them for the benefit of their people.

I am in agreement with Teodoro Petkoff when he said that a positive thing that Chavez did was to highlight the focus on social problems that previous governments didn't have.

Minneapolis, MN

Dear FRONTLINE,

I was overwhelmed by some of the [negative] letters posted after the show...

My only question for those people is -- you really believe that is right to govern just for one sector of the population; meaning those that support Chavez? Does that mean that because I'm not poor, don't live in the "ranchos", went to school and DON"T believe in Hugo Chavez I don't count? And that I deserve to have a president that talks for HOURS and I don't see results.

What I see is families living apart as some members left the counrty looking for a better life, security and the peace of mind that we Venezuelans, not just poor, the middle class and everybody else don't have.

You are mentioning things that we Venezuelans don't really see as important as the security we need -- when we send our kids to school, or the fact that we have a control exchange for YEARS and a parallel black market that distort the value of our money. Who really cares about the name of the country that was changed (do you know how much this cost?) when we can't even find food in the super markets.

We now experience blackouts all the time since Chavez came up with the idea of nationalized the electricity sector. Do you think this is a way of living and that I really care about the US interventionist history in Latin America? With all my respect, not really.

New York, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

Every sociology class should be watching this program. I am astounded by the dynamics of Chavez's speech and the language he uses to maintain his grasp on the Venezuelan presidency.

Bridget Smith
Burnsville, MN

Dear FRONTLINE,

Frontline has hit on a very sore subject, and I was disappointed to see just how sourly biased the reporting was. As many others have noted, the great majority of those interviewed oppose Chavez (including Jimenez, who is not actually a friend of Chavez as claimed). Where was the reporting on the land reform movement, the Missions (for literacy, health, college education, job training, etc), and the actual components of the reform (for example, securing equal rights for the gay community and upholding spiritual rights for indigenous peoples)?

Last, why were the only people "dressed up" against Chavez?

Sarah Corey
Columbus, OH