page_title: Bolivarian propaganda
section_title: United States
hierarchical_section_title: Bolivarian propaganda / Themes / Enemies / United States
caption_attribution_description: English: Bolivarian mural against Imperialism and the United States.
context_page_description: Bolivarian propaganda is a form of nationalist propaganda, especially in Venezuela, that utilizes the ideals espoused by Simón Bolívar, who helped lead Venezuela and other Latin American countries to independence from Spain, to exploit populist sentiments in support of local leaders. This type of propaganda has been particularly associated with Hugo Chávez's Bolivarian Revolution, which used emotional arguments to gain attention, exploit the fears of the population, create external enemies for scapegoat purposes, and produce nationalism within the population, causing feelings of betrayal for support of the opposition. The World Politics Review stated that as Chávez began "transforming Venezuela into a socialist state" that propaganda was "an important role in maintaining and mobilizing government supporters". The image of Chávez is seen on sides of buildings, on T-shirts, on ambulances, on official Petróleos de Venezuela billboards, and as action figures throughout Venezuela.
context_section_description: According to a US State Department memo leaked by the whistleblowing organization Wikileaks, Anti-American Imperialism-themed propaganda is used to create nationalist sentiments among Venezuelans portraying the Bolivarian Revolution as an "underdog, making the Bolivarian government appear as 'David' so the United States could seem to be an 'imperialist, neo-liberal Goliath'".  The United States government stated that the it was Chávez's "favorite punching bag" and often accused the United States of "meddling in Venezuela's domestic affairs". Chávez would blame problems experienced in Venezuela on the United States. Hugo Chávez used "brash, often confounding remarks against the US, capitalism, and a bevy of other topics". Chávez called former President of the United States George W. Bush a "drunkard", "donkey" and compared him to Adolf Hitler. Chávez also made claims that the 2010 Haiti earthquake was due to a "secretive US weapons test".
  At the 61st United Nations General Assembly, Hugo Chávez gave an anti-imperialist and anti-United States speech calling George W. Bush "the devil" and "world dictator". He accused Bush of spreading imperialism saying "he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world." He also criticized Israel due to the conflict it had with Lebanon. He then called the United Nations system "worthless" and that it had "collapsed". Chávez said that the United States promoted violence while Venezuela represented "dignity and the search for peace". After making his statements about seeking peace, Chávez asked for Venezuela to be on the United Nations Security Council saying, "Bolivar's home has sought a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council." He concluded saying that a new movement was being formulated in the south and even proposed moving the United Nations headquarters to Venezuela.
  Diario VEA, a Venezuelan state newspaper critical of the United States, often used multiple pages to discredit the United States government and shared conspiracies involving the United States and its supposed links to the Venezuelan opposition.
caption: Mural against American Imperialism that is marked with a Swastika and a McDonald's logo. It reads: "Against Imperialism: The unity of Our America"
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