Miguel Tinker Salas, professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He is the author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela and the forthcoming Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Eva Golinger, friend and adviser to President Hugo Chávez, who referred to her as the "girlfriend of Venezuela." She’s a lawyer and author of numerous books, including The Chávez Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela. She edits the English-language edition of the Venezuelan newspaper Correo del Orinoco and hosts a weekly program on RT called Behind the News.

Gregory Wilpert, founder of venezuelanalysis.com and author of Changing Venezuela by Taking Power: The History and Policies of the Chávez Government.

Greg Grandin, Cullman fellow at the New York Public Library. He is the author of Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. His most recent book, Fordlandia, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. His new book, Empire of Necessity, will be published later this year.

Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy forum on Western Hemisphere affairs. He is also an adjunct professor of Latin American politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.