"People have heard a lot about Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, and the chance to hear about the situation from an insider is very valuable," said James Green, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Latin American Studies, who moderated the lecture. "Students are fascinated by Chavez's critiques of Washington policy."
Herrera spent much of his half-hour speech talking about the history of Venezuela and the problems it faced before Chavez was elected in 1998. Herrera pointed to a series of protests in the late 1980s and early 1990s as signs of a country in turmoil, despite being portrayed in foreign media as a stable nation.
"There was an illusion of harmony in Venezuela," Herrera said. "The riots were the starting points of political change. If we want to understand the election of President Chavez, we have to see it in that context."
Herrera said the 1994 Summit of the Americas - one of a series focusing on promoting globalization and free trade in North and South America - was a key event leading up to the regime change that saw the election of Chavez.
"The supposed consensus at the Summit of the Americas did not exist," Herrera said. "It was an agreement of elites, not of the people."
Herrera said the summit was a catalyst in promoting a change of ideas in Venezuela. "We have to recognize that that path is part of the problem," he said. "We have to re-conceptualize everything, including the role of the state."
Now, Herrera said, there is more optimism in Venezuela about the future.
"What is amazing is the way people have connected with the process of changes," he said. "We have gone from a very pessimistic world to a very optimistic world."
During the following question-and-answer session, which ran over an hour, it became clear that members of the audience held strong views both for and against Chavez's government. Herrera answered the questions put to him patiently, taking over an hour to answer only eight questions. He was frequently given notes by his aides to help him answer some of the more specific questions.
"Thousands of us in the United States would hail, support and salute the social transformation of Venezuela," one man shouted into a microphone, "and we will do anything in our power to encourage and aid your new government."
A woman who identified herself as a Brown graduate student asked about Chavez's use of rule by decree, which allows the leader to create laws without a legislative process.
"You talk about participatory democracy in Venezuela," she said. "But circumstantial and statistical evidence would seem to suggest that many Venezuelans are wary about President Chavez's increasingly expansive executive powers. How do you reconcile that focus on participatory politics with the reaction of the Venezuelan people?"
"You need two to tango," Herrera responded. "Last year we didn't have a loyal opposition in congress, but let me tell you that the loyal opposition decided not to participate. They didn't want to legitimize the regime, so they committed political suicide and decided to withdraw. Believe me, this is not something we like."
Students who attended the lecture said they appreciated Herrera's appearance but wished he had been more substantive in his remarks.
"I found that he didn't actually say all that much," said Carla Cornejo '10. "I think it's fair that we're being presented with a different view, but it was clear that he was speaking like a politician."
Herrera briefly spoke about U.S.-Venezuelan relations, calling U.S. foreign policy "myopic." But some students said they wished there had been a greater focus on the issue.
"I was a bit disappointed with the main speech, because I thought he would go into the U.S. conflict," said Daniela Rodriguez Da Silva '10, who said she lived in Venezuela until coming to Brown. "He reflected perfectly the situation of my country by going around the most important issues."
Rodriguez Da Silva entered into a heated debate with Herrera after interrupting his answer to another person's question, saying she wanted "to provide context for what he was saying." Herrera said there was a concerted effort by Venezuelan private media to broadcast anti-Chavez propaganda, but Rodriguez Da Silva said the media only reacted that way after Chavez forced them to cover his speeches instead of the "violent" acts of his government.
"I recognized that I interrupted him, so I apologized afterwards and explained why I felt so passionate about this issue," she told The Herald after the lecture. "My father was kidnapped for three days a few years ago by the government and forced to do things he didn't want to do."
The lecture was part of a "diplomatic dialogue" series of lectures run by the Center for Latin American Studies. It was also part of Latino History Month, which will continue through the end of April.
