If you’re an ordinary American, you probably have no idea who Eduardo Galeano is. Or yet, you might learn who he was thanks to the incident were former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave President Obama a copy of his book “Open Veins of Latina America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent”. Galeano was essentially the Noam Chomsky of Latin America (If you don’t know who Noam Chomsky is, you should be allowed to vote in this country). The book Open Veins is an absolute epic masterpiece. Like Charles Bowden’s book “Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields”, “Open Veins of Latina America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent” is one of those books that I has forever change me by opening my eyes to such a topic that I would’ve given little to no attention.

Although I don’t fully agree with all Galeano’s extreme far left political views, his writing has forever changed my life.

“They came. They had the Bible and we had the land. We were told: “Close your eyes and pray”, and when we open our eyes, they had the land and we had the Bible.” – Eduardo Galeano