Noel King

He's about six foot four or five.

He's at least 250 pounds.

He's warm in person.

He likes to hug.

He's got that kind of swing.

Maduro doesn't have quite the same magnetic persona that his mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chavez, did.

You know, there has always been a pretty florid opposition in Venezuela, and he has cracked down hard on them.

They threatened him by telling him my children and I would be next if he didn't confess.

He comes from the urban left.

He was also a left-wing union organizer.

He had some training in Cuba.

He is not a Democrat.

He sees himself as a revolutionary.

I point this out to Americans because I think there's this idea that

You know, obviously, it's a kind of touchstone.

We all talk about democracy as the ultimate ideal.

Well, people who see themselves as revolutionaries in the same Marxist sense do not regard themselves as Democrats.

They regard themselves as revolutionaries.

And it presupposes a different set of values.

of assumptions about the way you proceed once you have power.