Life experience has led to a change of mind for 73 year old Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano.  Forty years ago, he wrote The Open Veins of Latin America which has been embraced as the anti-colonialist, anti-capitalist and anti-American text in that region.  Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez even gave a copy of the book to U.S. President Barack Obama the first time they met.

But now, Galeano has disavowed the book, saying he was not qualified to tackle the subject and that it was badly written.  He says Open Veins tried to be a book of political economy, but that he didn’t have the necessary training or preparation.  He also says he wouldn’t be able to read the book again because it’s so heavy with the view of the traditional left.