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The Bolivarian revolution will not be televised but you can catch it on KPFK Pacifica Radio. On today’s program: Hugo Chavez, the coup, the referendum, and the UN speech.

Venezuela could bill private oil companies more than $300 million for taxes that went unpaid last year, a tax official revealed yesterday. Under President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan tax agency has accused more than 20 oil firms of paying a discounted income tax rate and inflating tax deductions, among other irregularities. A previous government in the 1990s lured foreign oil investment during a period of low prices by offering discounted tax rates. The Chavez administration has raised taxes and required oil companies to form joint ventures giving the state oil company a majority share. Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States. Chavez’ main platform has been based on spreading the country’s oil wealth equally among all Venezuelans, a goal that has not been very popular among wealthy Venezuelans, oil corporations, and the US government.

In fact, on April 11, 2002, Hugo Chavez was briefly ousted in coup that was rumored have US involvement. The coup was dramatically reversed 2 days later after hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the street in protest and the national guard decided to remain loyal to Chavez.

The Revolution Will Not be Televised is the dramatic story of the coup up front and center by two film makers, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’ Briain who happened to be filming a profile of Hugo Chavez at the time of the coup. The film was first broadcast in Europe in February 2003 and since then has aired on a variety of international TV stations including the BBC, ZDF (Germany), Arte (France), and NPS (Holland) as well as at numerous international film festivals. In Venezuela the film had its first airing on national TV in April 2003. The film has notably not been shown on US television. It was screened in a small handful of US theaters. For more information, visit www.chavezthefilm.com.

Venezuela Rising is a new documentary that follows well on the heels of Revolution Will Not be Televised. It documents the 2004 referendum on Chavez which he won with a resounding victory. The referendum is seen through the eyes of grandmother and community organizer Gladys Bolivar and addresses the nature of politics, elections, and democracy. For more information, visit www.nuamerica.org

These days Chavez has been striking back – verbally. He recently caused an uproar with a speech at the United Nations where he lauded Noam Chomsky’s book about US empire, “Hegemony or Survival” and called President Bush “the devil.” Click here for more information abou t the book.