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throughout the world for his inflammatory statements addressing not only Bush II, but his government's "imperial ambitions" [Chomsky]. His criticism not only meshes with the foundation of his ideological Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement, but it also represents popular sentiment in Venezuela and the rest of Latin America.

For more than three decades the region has suffered under U.S. economic policies and neo-liberal "free trade" agreements, and this is what Chavez has played his success on. His consistent rhetoric has sent ripples which have likely caused other nations like Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and most recently Nicaragua, to realign their political preference to the left in opposition to these policies.

Notwithstanding, the current trend of Latin America's left turn is not only in response to Chavez's criticism, but also to a regional awareness that U.S. neo-liberal policies spell socio-economic hardships for the majority of people in the region. As such, the people are wising up and playing a more strategic game of political opposition to Washington's policies.

The history, objectives and reality of U.S. neo-liberal policies

The U.S. economic policies which have been incessantly implemented throughout the regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia are known as structural adjustment programs, or SAPs. These programs began to surface more frequently as part of the Washington Consensus in the late 1970's under President Jimmy Carter, but have actually been around since the late 1940's with the incarnation of the Bretton Woods Institutions. While the advertised intention of these SAPs has always been to reduce poverty, the history of these programs reveals only failure in that motive.

Until the late 1990's, Washington was able to convincingly persuaded national leaders to obediently adhere to SAPs, selling/imposing them as financial tools that would eliminate a country's fiscal imbalance. From Argentina, Brazil and Chile, on up through Venezuela to Costa Rica and Mexico, the region has been extremely susceptible to foreign economic intervention from the U.S. and its international financial institution (IFI) affiliates like the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Today, the region is beginning to stir from its gullible slumber.

Latin America has essentially been an easy target for Washington, its IFI collaborators and multi-national business partners. After roughly thirty years of trust in their well-intentioned advisers to the north,

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