PERU: There are only two buses that go through the mountain hamlet of Tunal and they both leave Piura from the Terminal Terrestre de Castillo at six in the morning. After six and a half hours down third world unpaved roads in the mountains, crossing streams without bridges and nearly falling into the abyss at least a half dozen times, you arrive in the village of Tunal. From where the bus drops you off, you can see the delegated municipality, the church, the town hostel, the health center, and that’s just about everything there is to see. There are around 1,000 people, a lot of trees and a concrete step where, if you stretch high enough, you can sometimes get cell phone signal.

Around 8pm, loudspeakers broke Tunal’s isolation with a distinctly Chavista newscast. The news program was about the Israeli invasion of Gaza, the crimes committed by Israel and Chavez’s fierce opposition to it. The coverage was unbalanced, focusing only on the carnage and on dear leader’s heroic actions to help the suffering. I would expect Chavista media in a small town in Venezuela, but I was surprised to hear this kind of news playing in a small town in the mountains of Peru. However, Tunal’s newscast is but one example of the Venezuelan leader’s publicity efforts in Latin America.

Hugo Chávez dreams of a unified Latin America that will use socialism to end American imperialism and he employs various techniques to unite Latin Americans under his vision. In the realm of television, Venezuela created Telesur, a TV station that broadcasts in Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba, with the support of their left-wing governments. In addition to traditional media, Chávez works with leftists to create ALBA houses that do public works and promote his agenda. To the supporters of the ALBA houses, these institutions provide necessary community and medical services. For instance, ALBA houses facilitate access to the ever-popular Misión Milagro, in which Venezuelan money helps Cuban doctors remove cataracts so that the blind may see again. However, critics view the ALBA houses as a foreign intrusion on the internal affairs of their countries. I don’t think that Chavez’s public diplomacy efforts are any more extensive than American attempts have been, but I do wonder whether Uncle Sam ever made it to Tunal.