Is Chavez Crazy Like a Fox?

How Hugo Chavez turned Bush bashing into a global political movement—backed by a lot of oil

STEVE PYKE FOR TIME

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Venezuelan mission in New York, September 21, 2006.

It's no surprise that the first thing Hugo Chávez offers me as we sit down for an interview is a cup of coffee. Chávez is a renowned caffeine fanatic, known for downing as many as two dozen small cups a day. Venezuelans speculate that it's one reason their President is so prone to impulsive diatribes like the one he delivered at the U.N. General Assembly last week, in which he accused President George W. Bush of being the "devil" and leaving a satanic "smell of sulfur" in the U.N. hall. Chávez wasn't done. A few hours before he met me, he...

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