Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,

the past brought to life by those who were there. This week the Japanese left-wing

extremists who took on the authorities in the 1970s.

We made holes in the wall, put the gun bells through and fired at the police officers.

We did this for 10 days.

And 30 years on, passengers relive the horror of a long-haul flight that went badly

wrong.

My eyes went to the flight attendant looking for guidance and comfort, and she had a look of absolute terror in her eyes which were the size of saucers.

Plus why strong beer was banned in Iceland for most of the 20th century.

With beer in our class, they thought we would all drink too much and have no morals.

That's all coming up later in the podcast. But before that an object lesson in how history

informs the present. With the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, we're going to take you back

to the mid-1970s, a time when Venezuelans were enjoying an economic bonanza

fueled by the country's huge oil reserves. In 1976 the Venezuelan President Carlos

Andres Perez announced the nationalization of the oil industry

pledging to put the oil wealth at the service of humanity.

If only it had proved that simple.

Mike Lanchin reports. There was a feeling of happiness, simple as that.

In those days the mid-70s, you could feel the climate of peace and people were distracted spending. was beginning to boom and we certainly were very happy preparing for the future.

It was at that time that they built a huge shopping center. I think it was the biggest in Latin America

and inside you could literally smell the opulence.

Did you worry think gosh this was going to end at some point?

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