By Carlos Coello
Published 3/5/2004
www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040304-111246-8008r

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 4 (UPI) -- The Venezuelan government is acting as a driving force behind the populist Latin American indigenous movement, despite the fact that there are only about 250,000 natives in the county, who have no political clout. President Hugo Chavez has become a pillar of a continental revolution, along with his close associate Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

According to analyst Alberto Garrido, the revolutionary movement extends from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, taking in farmers, indigenous peoples, labor unions and guerrilla organizations. It includes the indigenous movements of Mexico, Central America, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador as well as Nicaragua's Sandinistas, Salvador's Farabundo Marti movement, Argentinean strikers, Brazilian members of Sin Tierra's landless movement and Colombia's leftist guerrillas. All are tightly connected to the "Bolivarian Revolution" initiated and led by President Lieutenant Colonel Chavez. Full Article