Word: populist
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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That is largely why Venezuelans last year elected the populist, corruption-busting Chavez. A former army paratrooper colonel, he led a bloody but failed coup attempt in 1992 that was widely applauded by citizens fed up with cogollo rule. Many citizens complained that Chavez's government was initially slow to respond to the disaster. They conceded, however, that he was doing more than his effete predecessors would probably have done--dispatching troops to set up relocation camps and touring the devastated areas in his trademark red beret. On Dec. 15, the day the flooding began, voters approved his new federal...
...causes of the country's high flood-death toll, but they may not like his solutions. Chavez blamed the "criminal irresponsibility" of previous governments for the estimated 50,000 deaths from last week's floods, citing the widespread construction of illegal shantytowns on hillsides. The left-leaning populist president warned that there would be no rebuilding of some of the worst-hit neighborhoods, and that people would be forbidden from building in areas vulnerable to mudslides. And while the former paratrooper has earned top marks for his hands-on supervision of relief efforts, his approach to rebuilding the country...
...coup attempt, personally took command of 1,000 elite paratroopers over the weekend and supervised the delivery of disaster relief. By deploying the military throughout the country to help Venezuela cope with the devastation that has killed at least 10,000 people, Chavez appears to be delivering on his populist commitment to share the oil-rich country's resources more equitably. And to underscore the point, his wife on Sunday opened the doors of the presidential palace and took in 35 children orphaned by the disaster...
...will take the American musical into the new millennium? Two very different camps are vying to lay out the future path for this very 20th century art form. On one side are the rockers, who want to give the musical a fresh beat and a more contemporary, populist appeal. But Rent hasn't exactly spawned a revolution, and rock on Broadway right now consists of little more than 20-year-old Bee Gees songs. On the other side are the artistes, a group of theatrical composers who use Stephen Sondheim as a model, care little about tunes that send...
...labor organizations over the NAFTA agreement resulted in many Democrats on Capitol Hill colluding with Republicans in stripping Clinton of his right to negotiate "fast-track" trade agreements. He's increasingly faced opposition on both sides of the aisle to free trade policies, which have left him vulnerable to populist attack. "Pat Buchanan complains that both parties are now too pro-business, and that resonates with some people," says Branegan. Because as Seattle showed, there are many thousands of Americans who are far from convinced that what's good for business is good for them...