Maria Conchita Alonso Clashes With Oliver Stone

1 July 2010

Maria Conchita Alonso

Maria Conchita Alonso has taken aim at filmmaker Oliver Stone over his new documentary, which portrays dictator Hugo Chavez as a fun-loving good guy.

The Vampire's Kiss star has teamed up with Central and South American Community officials to make a movie, Crossing Our Borders, which chronicles what Stone left out of his South of The Border film in an effort to tell "the true facts" and challenge the director's "selective storytelling".

Alonso also plans to confront Stone and Venezuelan leader Chavez, with live and online protests and media appearances.

A spokesman for the activists opposed to Stone's road trip film, which attempts to explore the social and political movements in South America and perceptions of the continent, tells WENN, "Missing from the light-hearted moments of a dictator (Chavez) riding a bike are the questioning of the alarming and growing rates of poverty, kidnapping and murder.

"We want to know who financed Mr. Stone’s film, why did he refuse to interview everyday Venezuelans about their lives under this brutally oppressive regime and why would Mr. Stone use his influence and art to sell a dictator who has dissolved parliament and jailed judges for ruling against his illegal activities?"

Alonso, who has narrated the film that counters Stone’s, has challenged the director to debate the realities of life in Venezuela under the Chavez government.

She tells WENN, "Oliver Stone is a gifted storyteller who has lent his considerable prowess to crafting a cinematic lie. Why not tell the truth about the conditions in Venezuela, where the middle class has shrunk from a third to five per cent, kidnapping has risen to the top five in the world and murder rates are higher than in Baghdad resulting from pillaged oil wealth, increased drug running and exportation of political unrest?

"I challenge Mr. Stone to answer these questions and explain where he got the funding for the production, distribution and marketing of this lie. Oliver Stone has become Hugo Chavez’s Minister of Propaganda."

She will join Venezuela Awareness and members of the Central and South American Community in protest of Oliver Stone’s film when the movie opens on Friday (02Jul10).