At 11am on Sundays, Venezuelans turn on their television sets to watch the most loved and hated programme in the country. Its charismatic but controversial host holds forth about politics for hours – his record exceeds eight – preaching and philosophising, telling personal anecdotes and giving history lessons. He cracks jokes at one moment and flies into a rage at another, and rails aggressively at his enemies as often as he tenderly caresses small children and old women.

The host is none other than Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president (pictured), and his weekly chat show Aló Presidente (Hello President) on the main state channel, Venezolana de Television (VTV), is often the most important political event of the week. Not only is it Chávez’s tool for educating and informing the populace about the progress and aims of his so-called Bolivarian revolution (named after the 19th-century independence hero Simón Bolívar), and lecturing on the evils of capitalism and imperialism (read: the US). It is also an innovative form of government, where significant announcements are made and public policy explained, as cabinet ministers diligently take notes in the audience. Ministers are fired and scolded, companies nationalised, farms exprop- riated, hospitals and factories inaug- urated. On TV Chávez even ordered tank battalions to the border with Colombia, leaving some fearing war.