On April 18, 2009 during the Summit of the Americas, Hugo Chavez got up from his seat and unceremoniously introduced himself to Barack Obama. Then he gave the President a book: Las venas abiertas de América Latina, a history of Latin America by the author Eduardo Galeano. Las venas abiertas tells the tale of colonial exploitation by the world’s powers—including the role the U.S. has played. It’s a sad story. Indigenous peoples enslaved or later employed at starvation wages so that the rich of the world could enjoy silver and gold chains, or later the taste of sugar, coffee, and cocoa. Galeano’s work tells the story from the time of Columbus until the end of the 1970s. Some areas have improved over the last 30 years but the poverty and injustice throughout Latin America is still profound and pervasive.

During this past summer I was in the region of Potosi and travelled with friends up and down the volcano called ‘cerro rico’, ‘the rich hill’. It was out of this very volcano that the vast amount of Spanish silver was mined at the cost of some 8,000,000 lives during the Spanish colonial epoch. Incredible fortunes for a few; destitution and death for many. It was a sobering journey—the vestiges of Spanish wealth still apparent in the stunning churches of the city (as are the ongoing challenges of living at 4,0000+ meters), but the wealth of the mines are now spent. 

Chavez has a right to remind the west of an unjust history. 

We have a responsibility to learn and to do what we can to improve the lot of the many; to better the lives of men, women, and children who are still chained to poverty, hunger, lack of opportunity, and who have little hope.

I understand Chavez is less friendly with Obama these days—a cooling of the initial glow—perhaps Galeano’s book hasn’t yet been read? It awaits there for us—one more story of injustice which we would rather not know?