kmeisenbach
01-03-08, 03:03 PM
HDNet World Report Investigates the Secretive World of Black Magic and Politics Deep inside Venezuela
World Report's Mick Davie Presents an Exclusive Look at the Collision of Religion and Politics in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela -
Tuesday, January 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET
This Tuesday's HDNet World Report takes viewers deep inside a secret world in Venezuela showing how President Hugo Chavez invokes superstition and religion to extend his anti-US influence throughout Latin America. "Chavez's Black Magic: Religion and Politics in Venezuela," airs Tuesday, January 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET on HDNet.
Chavez has made headlines around the world, thumbing his nose at the United States, calling George Bush "Satan," and aligning himself with Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Every year, tens of thousands of people gather on a sacred mountain in Venezuela, practicing trance possession and cult rituals resembling Santeria or Voodoo. These rituals are performed in the name of liberation heroes such as Simon Bolivar who freed Venezuela from the Spanish. The participants in these bizarre rituals aren't tribals, they're the working class people who put Hugo Chavez in power--and keep him there.
A clip from this episode can be viewed at the following link: http://www.hd.net/wr601.
In this episode, HDNet World Report explores the fact that, while President Chavez brings literacy, health care, new homes and jobs to the poor, he also sees no contradiction in promoting faith healing and trance possession. He believes that being possessed by the warrior spirits of the nation's liberation heroes can fuel the patriotism and nationalism that he needs to help keep his anti-US, socialist revolution going, even if oil prices drop.
Chavez himself reportedly engages in these rituals, and is said to have been possessed by the spirit of Bolivar.
HDNet World Report received unprecedented access to these never-before-filmed rituals. Mick Davie also speaks to the recipients of Chavez's aid programs, including clinics served by 'imported' Cuban doctors. Davie also speaks with voices of the opposition in Caracas, providing a look into a Venezuela that few outsiders have seen before.
World Report's Mick Davie Presents an Exclusive Look at the Collision of Religion and Politics in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela -
Tuesday, January 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET
This Tuesday's HDNet World Report takes viewers deep inside a secret world in Venezuela showing how President Hugo Chavez invokes superstition and religion to extend his anti-US influence throughout Latin America. "Chavez's Black Magic: Religion and Politics in Venezuela," airs Tuesday, January 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET on HDNet.
Chavez has made headlines around the world, thumbing his nose at the United States, calling George Bush "Satan," and aligning himself with Fidel Castro's Cuba.
Every year, tens of thousands of people gather on a sacred mountain in Venezuela, practicing trance possession and cult rituals resembling Santeria or Voodoo. These rituals are performed in the name of liberation heroes such as Simon Bolivar who freed Venezuela from the Spanish. The participants in these bizarre rituals aren't tribals, they're the working class people who put Hugo Chavez in power--and keep him there.
A clip from this episode can be viewed at the following link: http://www.hd.net/wr601.
In this episode, HDNet World Report explores the fact that, while President Chavez brings literacy, health care, new homes and jobs to the poor, he also sees no contradiction in promoting faith healing and trance possession. He believes that being possessed by the warrior spirits of the nation's liberation heroes can fuel the patriotism and nationalism that he needs to help keep his anti-US, socialist revolution going, even if oil prices drop.
Chavez himself reportedly engages in these rituals, and is said to have been possessed by the spirit of Bolivar.
HDNet World Report received unprecedented access to these never-before-filmed rituals. Mick Davie also speaks to the recipients of Chavez's aid programs, including clinics served by 'imported' Cuban doctors. Davie also speaks with voices of the opposition in Caracas, providing a look into a Venezuela that few outsiders have seen before.