Marie Arana

So even though you were naked in a loincloth with nothing but a stick, you know, if you had enough of those people, you could run over a battalion of Spanish with better armor.

The Spanish were a force, unbelievable force.

Very, very violent and very organized military structure.

When these armies traveled, and we need to remember this, it wasn't just soldiers.

They traveled with their women because the women were cooking for the men right on the battlefield.

They were bringing their children.

So you would have these great long trains and caravans of people going into war, which were like whole populations traveling.

But mainly, oil prices were dropping.

The poverty rate increased from about 25% to about 65% in the course of the 1990s.

That began a lifelong friendship with Fidel Castro, whom he later used to consider almost like a father.

So they were ready for change, and he won with 56% of the vote.

And that was the end.

I mean, that was the cutting of the throat of the Spanish colonies at that point.

The vision that he had going into the revolution was not the reality that he had coming out.

He was all about the rights of man, liberty, number one, equality, very close thereupon.

But then when he actually got into the reality of that hierarchy that Spain had built so carefully and had kept this little crust on top, it was a mess.

He would ride from town to town, from city to city, setting up institutions, establishing universities once the revolution was over.

And what would happen is the moment he rode away, things would fall apart.

So he became more and more convinced that the only way you were going to be able to rule these unruly people was to really have a strong iron hand.

He had like 85% popularity.