The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised is a must-see independent documentary about the 2002 attempted coup against Venezuela's democratically elected (and much-demonized by Western media) leader, Hugo Chavez. You can see it here.

Two independent journalists were in Venezuela at the time to make a documentary about Chavez and his policies, and ended up at the palace in August during the coup and Chavez's amazing comeback. Backers of Pedro Carmona, a business leader, took over the TV stations and broadcast propaganda, including false allegations that Chavez instigated gunfire that killed demonstrators outside the palace (it was the anti-Chavez demonstrators who first opened fire on huge crowds of Chavez's supporters.) With the help of the army, they successfully kidnapped Chavez and took him off to an island (after threatening to bomb the palace where the government leaders and many supporters were with him.) But the people poured into the streets the next day, demanding that the leader they voted for be restored to his rightful office. Chavez's guard, still loyal to him, retook the palace, making way for the rightful government to return to power within 48 hours.

Sooo many fascinating details are in that documentary, things you'll never hear anywhere else. Almost all but the narration is in Spanish, but the gist of everything said is in English captions. I have a good knowledge of Spanish, so I had the advantage of being able to catch more than could be easily translated, but you don't have to know even a word of Spanish to understand what's going on in the video.