The Evolution of Aló Presidente
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THE POLITICAL COMMUNICATION OF HUGO CHÁVEZ: THE EVOLUTION OF ALÓ PRESIDENTE BY SUNTHAI CONSTANTINI THESIS Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Kent September 2014 (Word count: 95,320) Sunthai Constantini [Company Name] 2 Abstract Aló Presidente was a weekly television programme anchored and produced by Hugo Chávez during his presidency in Venezuela. The show, a version of a phone-in, was broadcast live on national television at 11am on Sundays and lasted on average six hours. It followed the presidential agenda to a new location every week, where Hugo Chávez would inaugurate factories, read Latin American poetry, interview Fidel Castro, and sing llanero songs. This thesis investigates the role that Aló Presidente played in the making of the “Bolivarian Revolution”, Hugo Chávez’s political project. Through a critical reading of the transcripts of the show, it explores the 378 episodes, or 1656 hours, that aired between 1999 and 2012. Aló Presidente was the cornerstone of Chávez’s political communication, replacing press conferences and interviews. Chávez was known for his continuous presence on radio and television and his daily presidential addresses. However, only on the Sunday show could the audience phone the president and share their ideas, emotions and everyday life concerns. This thesis reviews the narratives that underlined the relationship between the audience/electorate and the host/president on Aló Presidente. It is argued that Aló Presidente played a fundamental role in articulating the identity of a public that shared the values and ideas of Chávez’s hegemonic project. Moreover, it is argued that the show Aló Presidente and the ideological process called the “Bolivarian Revolution” can be read as two co-related arms of a same project, and that they informed and defined each other throughout Chávez’s presidency. In this context, this thesis assesses the evolution of the programme in light of the political events taking place in Venezuela during that time. Aló Presidente is thus seen as a repository, or “black box”, of the discourses that articulated the Bolivarian identity and constructed the legitimacy of Hugo Chávez as the leader of a populist movement in Venezuela. Finally, the core of this thesis is that the co-relation between the show and the hegemonic project evolved over time to strengthen the authoritarian tendencies of Hugo Chávez’s regime. Following the activities of Aló Presidente over 13 years, the investigation charts that evolution in three different stages: 1) participation, 2) education, and 3) obedience, arguing that what started as a seemingly participatory space, progressively became a platform that presented Hugo Chávez’s figure as the ideologue of a populist movement, and ultimately secured his position as the indisputable leader and sole authority of Venezuela’s “Bolivarian Revolution”. 3 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: The Production and Genre of Aló Presidente ...............................................30 Introducing Aló Presidente ................................................................................................................................... 30 The Genre of Aló Presidente ................................................................................................................................. 38 Aló Presidente as a Talk ShoW Hybrid.............................................................................................................. 46 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter 3: The Role of Television: Discourse, Identity and Public Formation .......62 Discourse, Subjectivity and Group Formation .............................................................................................. 63 Television, Everyday Life and Identity............................................................................................................. 76 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 4: Designing the Analysis: Research Methods ...................................................92 Chapter 5: Aló Presidente 19992002: Articulating Participation........................... 105 Historical Context: From Representative to Participatory Democracy............................................108 Defining Participation............................................................................................................................................124 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................141 Chapter 6: Aló Presidente 20022007: Educating the Public in the Face of Opposition................................................................................................................................... 142 The Political Context of the Middle Years .....................................................................................................143 Policymaking and Public Support: the Misiones........................................................................................150 Constructing the Bolivarian Identity...............................................................................................................154 The Socialist Turn....................................................................................................................................................171 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................177 Chapter 7: Aló Presidente 20062012: Demanding Obedience................................. 179 The Bolivarian Revolution and Socialism of the 21st century...............................................................180 Reducing Pluralism .................................................................................................................................................193 From Centralisation to Legitimacy...................................................................................................................201 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................212 Chapter 8: Conclusion.............................................................................................................. 214 Appendices.................................................................................................................................. 254 Appendix 1: List of Interviews ........................................................................................................254 Appendix 2: The Venezuelan Political Landscape: a Brief Timeline of Historical Events ...................................................................................................................................................................256 4 List of Tables Figure 1- Evolution of audience phone calls in Aló Presidente………………………….107 Figure 2- Comparative chart of participation and episode duration between Episodes 1 and 40 on Aló Presidente......................................................................................................127 5 Acknowledgements Not one argument, sentence, or even footnote of this thesis would have been possible without the incredible number of people that participated to the process with their impressions, ideas and support. Every conference, interview, train ride and pub conversation has contributed to these pages, constantly reinventing my universe and shedding light onto the work. To all the people who generously shared their time with a curious stranger: thank you. I am grateful to my supervisors Suzanne Franks, Ruth Blakeley and Geoffrey Craig for their guidance, patience and unwavering faith in this project. Their encouragements and kind words kept me sane on many occasions and our conversations always inspired me for the path ahead. I would also like to thank Tim Luckhurst and the Centre for Journalism for giving me the opportunity to explore the world of Aló Presidente in detail. As the first full-time PhD student at the Centre for Journalism, finding a community had seemed difficult at the beginning. My first lesson was quickly imparted when it was made clear that communities cross boundaries and that intellectual curiosity makes for an inestimable bond. I would like to thank my colleagues and friends form the Centre for Critical Thought. Our reading groups and activities filled my PhD years with excitement and interest. Some ideas had to be explored for weeks, sometimes months, before two plus two finally equalled four and tiny neural pathways connected in my brain. Others came from a distance, going around the world before subtly, almost imperceptibly, landing on the page. This process has been as much human as it has been intellectual. It is with a heart full of gratitude that I would like to dedicate this work to Devin, Patricia, Luis, Luis Emilio, Nayeli, Julia, Collin, Jordan, Mélanie,