Reúnase con el pres.

• Author: Colitt, Raymond
• Position: Presidente Hugo Ch

Just outside the legislative palace in downtown Caracas, copies of the new Correo del Presidente newspaper sell like hotcakes. "I sell all of them in a matter of hours," says a young vendor, clutching her baby in one arm. Across the plaza in a barber shop, Hernán Valdez, a retired public employee, says "I like the paper because it prints what the president really says. The other papers write things the way it suits them."

That's true. Correo is the mouthpiece of the Movimiento Quinta República and the paper's editor-in-chief is none other than Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

Managing editor Juan Barreto says even when the president cannot write, he usually takes time out of his busy afternoon to check his ghost-written column and revise it if necessary. His daily editorials denounce his critics or defend his aggressive reform program. The tabloid, whose slogan is "The Truth is our Banner" also features caricatures (usually of the government's opponents) and daily quotations of Simon Bolívar, the Venezuelan independence hero and Chávez's idol.

At only US$0.08 per copy, the paper costs a fifth the price of the leading national broad sheets, another reason for its popularity.

Its publishers say the paper is nearly breaking even on an average of...