There’s been quite a bit of talk about gifts lately. I don’t remember this much harping on gift-giving during the Bush administration but I feel obliged to follow it for one reason or another. In this particular case, the giver is Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. I could go on and on about why Hugo Chavez is a controversial guy but I’ll just point you to Google and keep typing.

So what did Chavez give President Obama during their (now remotely infamous) handshake moment? Chavez gave Obama a book called ‘Open Veins of Latin America‘. It’s a 317 page ramble about how the United States and England are responsible for all of Latin America’s problems. Here’s a review from Amazon.com:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can’t argue with the facts

Galeano’s book is an excellent catalog of the atrocities committed by the U.S. government in Latin America over the last several decades.

Sounds like a great read! ‘Monthly Review Press’ should be quite happy with Hugo Chavez today — Recent press has led to a rash of sales (the book currently stands in the top 20 on Amazon.com).

Update: Here’s video of the gift-giving…

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