“Now, let me be clear, just because he handed me a copy of Peter Pan does not mean that I’m going to read it — but it’s good diplomatic practice to just accept these gifts”
– Barack Obama, 2009 White House Correspondents Dinner

Hugo Chavez gave this book to Barack Obama. It seems as if President Obama regards this book as a tool of Hugo Chavez. He even mistakenly thought it was written by him when he accepted the gift.

It would be foolish for President Obama to turn his nose up at the chance to learn something from this book. This is not the Mein Kampf of Hugo Chavez (and even if it were, there could be something to learn there). This is a fundamental text that many Latin American people read in school. It is as important to the people of Latin America as reading about Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin is  to the founding of the US, as important as reading Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, or John Howard Griffin is to understanding the struggle of African Americans.

I am not asking President Obama to agree with the author’s point of view, or to even agree with any of his historical observations. And I understand Mr. Obama, when he says that the US and Europe are not to blame for all of the problems in Latin America. But by reading this book you will understand the perspective of Latin Americans that has led to dramatic changes in the governments of most of their countries over the last decade. You will understand better by Lulu da Silva appeals to the people of Brazil, why Christina Fernandez de Kirchner became the first female president in Argentina and her colleague Michelle Bachelet in Chile. Why the Bolivian people see hope in Evo Morales, and the Ecuadorans re-elected someone like Rafael Correa, and in Uruguay, Tabaré Vázquez. And yes, why Hugo Chavez remains influential throughout the region although most people see him as an opportunistic egotist.

A great evolution is happening in Latin America as the countries are gradually making their way to autonomy, and admittedly a political bend toward the left politically.

These leaders understand the history of Latin American, and its history under the repression of corrupt influence from Europe and North America in the past. While the US revolution spelled autonomy, theses countries’ so called independence from Spain and Portugal was replaced by a caste system that is only now beginning to disintegrate. This book addresses the roots of this and the people of Latin America understand it, in large part from reading this authoritative text by Eduard Galeano.

Hugo Chavez is successful not because the people believe he is a savior, but because he understands this history well and how the public sees it. In an ironic twist, Mr. Chavez gave to Barack Obama the key to usurping his own power. Barack Obama has the intellectual depth to understand this perspective and to speak to the people even more effectively than Mr. Chavez. To not just understand this perspective, but to do something with it in the best interests of the United States and the people of Latin America.

OK, possibly I am going to far in implying that Barack Obama could displace Hugo Chavez soley by opening his mouth; but by reading this book, he and his administration could better understand the people of Latin America and make steps to bring the US and those countries together more as partners.