With 4 million Venezuelans leaving the country since Hugo Chavez was elected just 20 years ago, we’re witnessing the Western Hemisphere’s worst humanitarian crisis in recent times. Neighboring countries like Colombia and Brazil have been particularly hard hit, with some 600,000 refugees already in Colombia and 60,000 seeking asylum in Brazil since 2015 alone. But how did it all happen?
SFS International Fellow and Brazilian investigative journalist Leonardo Coutinho explains the roots of Venezuela’s collapse and global impacts in his new book, “Hugo Chavez, O Espectro” (Hugo Chavez, The Spectre). This eye-opening expose provides a detailed window into how Chavez allied himself with drug traffickers and terrorists to advance his idea of a revolution within Latin America — to the detriment of an entire hemisphere.