'Hugo Chavez studies': Venezuela's latest academic trend

Students rise to their feet as a uniformed Venezuelan brigadier-general enters a large classroom at a Caracas military institute and proclaims: "Chavez lives!" In unison, they reply: "The fight goes on!" before settling at their desks for an hour-long lecture punctuated with references to Venezuela's late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer last year. A new academic course in Venezuela, "Studies of the Thoughts of the Supreme Commander Hugo Chavez", has been set up by the military and already attracted more than 10,000 students. Critics deride it as a North Korean-style personality deification, while proponents say the course promotes humanist values and ideals espoused by Chavez that both Venezuela and a materialistic wider world badly need. More…