As Mediaite’s Andrew Kirell recounts, “a South American student confronted Stone” during his SLC appearance “about his disdain for American overreach while also supporting abusive leftist regimes like that of the late Hugo Chávez.” According to Kirell, “Stone responded that he believes the American press does not give the Venezuelan administration a fair shake; and that he’s fine with political opposition so long as it’s done legally. The South of the Border director reiterated his belief that the U.S. government illegally and covertly subverts Latin American leaders.”

Yahoo’s Chris Moody relayed a different detail: “Venezuela is a democratically elected government,” he quoted Stone in a tweet. “These people who keep protesting are sore losers.” Speaking for plenty of libertarians, liberals, and conservatives, Howard Dean (of all people) chimed in: “Not clear that this Venezuelan govt. is democratically elected. Chavez was at first but recent election was not clean.”