Open opus...

Well, as an update to my Omnifarious Obama post, after Chavez presented Obama with Eduardo Galeano's book 'Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent' it has sold over 50,000 copies [BBC] and is still flying off the shelves. Verison in Spanish in PDF format HERE courtesy of Marxismo Org (hehehe) Needless to say it is uncomfortable for the Spanish (naturally) the English (via Portugal: "CONTRIBUCIÓN del oro de Brasil al Progreso de Inglaterra"...and later the British!) and the Americans. The first part of the book is entitled " La Pobreza del Hombre como resultado de la riqueza de la Tierra" Translated: "The poverty of Man due to the Wealth of the Earth" (or perhaps more literally "...due to the riches in the ground!)

"Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent..." Monthly Review Press