Venezuela is one of the prettiest countries in the Americas. From Islas Margaritas the necklace of islands with uncounted sandy beaches off its Caribbean coast, to Angel Falls, the world’s highest waterfall, nature is vivid and lush, green and blue.
Because my old talk show, dubbed into Spanish, was broadcast for several years on Venivisión, the big TV network here, we spent lots of time in and around Caracas, the capital. In the 1990s, as the wealthiest nation in Latin America, Venezuela had a thriving middle class. It also had wicked, desperately poor hillside shantytowns known as barrios.
