"In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela. The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country. And we've had complaints about this ever since"
About this Quote
The villain casting is equally efficient. "Property owners" and "the folks who then controlled the media" are presented as a single block of self-interest, a metonym for oligarchy. Then comes the catalytic clause: "worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government". The "frankly" signals insider candor, but it also smuggles in a contested assertion as common knowledge. It's less an evidentiary claim than a moral one: the coup attempt becomes not just anti-Chavez but anti-democratic, corrupted by foreign meddling.
The most revealing line is the pivot: "then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country". That's euphemism as soft power. "Take seriously" can mean reforming a captured press; it can also mean intimidation, licensing pressure, closures, and chilling dissent. Lloyd anticipates the backlash - "we've had complaints about this ever since" - and preemptively minimizes it as predictable noise from the same aggrieved class.
The intent isn't to litigate Venezuela; it's to normalize a logic: when a leader is cast as democratically revolutionary, constraining hostile media can be narrated as self-defense rather than authoritarian drift.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lloyd, Mark. (2026, January 15). In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela. The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country. And we've had complaints about this ever since. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-venezuela-with-chavez-is-really-an-incredible-164218/
Chicago Style
Lloyd, Mark. "In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela. The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country. And we've had complaints about this ever since." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-venezuela-with-chavez-is-really-an-incredible-164218/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela. The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country. And we've had complaints about this ever since." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/in-venezuela-with-chavez-is-really-an-incredible-164218/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
