When I was listening to the lecture and heard about Alo Presidente, the talk show hosted by then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, I was immediately interested and intrigued. The fact that this authority figure had his own unscripted talk show to talk to the public about everything from social welfare programs to economic problems was mind-blowing to me. When doing further research on this, I discovered that Alo Presidente has spawned similar programs by leaders in other Latin American countries such as Bolivia and Ecuador. When I first heard about this program, I immediately thought back to the fireside chats of U.S. President Roosevelt, which where the evening radio addresses given in the early 1900s. I thought of this connection because these radio chats and this television program were both ways for leaders of nations to talk to the people more directly, without much preparation or censorship. This idea of our nation’s leaders finding a way to feel close to the general public is very interesting to me and I wonder if today in the U.S. anything similar to Alo Presidente would ever be possible.
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