PJ Vogt

but the dude's not entirely wrong.

It's where you, like, knowing where Shava's story goes, you describing that moment, it gives me chills.

It makes me feel the feeling of, like, I don't know, like adrenaline or something.

We're going to take a short break.

When we return, we arrive at the most formative era in modern Venezuelan history.

Hugo Chavez takes over.

Welcome back to the show.

We're now in chapter five, the origin story of Hugo Chavez.

Wait, so the idea is that you have like...

The haves are the elites, and they're sort of capturing the resources, and the military are going to be a counterweight that stands for the people.

So Chavez persuades his followers, people in the military, to read up on these 200-year-old ideas about revolution and a united Latin America.

And unlike most book clubs, his goes somewhere.

It leads to his famous failed coup, the one that ends with him live on national TV telling his followers that he's stopping for now.

Chavez leaves prison in 1994.

Four years later, he uses his new national profile to run for president.

He wins.

Chapter 6.

Halo, Presidente.

And so part of the story of Chavez, even in the beginning, is going to be about his relationship to the country's oil reserves and the price of oil when he takes power.

Can you tell me about that?