Venezuela's 'vile pig' and 'old horse' get ready for final race

The sitting President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and single opposition candidate Henrique Capriles have exactly one month to win the votes of the undecided voters. Public opinion polls show very different trends - from a confident victory in the presidential election of Chavez to a win (with a slight advantage) of the opposition's Capriles.

Both candidates are not shy in their statements. Chavez called Capriles a "vile pig," and Capriles called Chavez a "coyote" (by definition, ugly) and an "old horse that gives out in the last 800 meters." Capriles' strategy for these last "meters" is campaigning, visiting municipality after municipality. Chavez also bets on numerous rallies and speeches later quoted by the press.  

The nomination of a single candidate from the opposition is a great success of the opposition forces. Former governor of Miranda, Henrique Capriles, however, does not consider himself a "bourgeois" but center-left. He believes the former Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva, to whom Brazil owes economic prosperity and social reforms, to be his role model.

According to Jesse Chacon, a former Minister of the Cabinet of Chavez, and now director of the Institute "GIZ XXI", Capriles chose a pattern of "left politics" in an effort to win voters, but is not like this in reality. This is caused by objective reasons. "Today, in Venezuela, a politician positioning himself as right-wing, has no chance of winning," said Chacon. Of course, if in Venezuela for 5 dollars one can fill a car tank with 200 liters of gasoline, easily sign up a preferential mortgage, do not pay for education, it is unlikely that liberal slogans will have an advantage in the campaign. Moreover, it would be a political suicide.

However, according to recent revelations of Capriles' colleagues in the coalition, rival Chavez has a concrete plan to liberalize the economy. David de Lima and William Ojeda, expelled from the party, said that this secret plan includes privatizing oil and other export industries, minimizing social programs and devaluation of the bolivar. Capriles, of course, denied such exposure, but with his coming to power, they are likely. It is no accident that he is banking on "youth", "ideas", "change" and "freedom."

The president has positioned himself as a public figure who is making history and competing with the guy who is not even trained. In the election campaign, Chavez, according to another analyst, President of the Analytical Institute Datanálisis, Luis Vicente Leon, is dominated by three ideas that have worked well in the past: state subsidies, fear of losing the subsidies and the concept of "Chavez or chaos." Chavez has warned that if Capriles wins the elections on October 7, the latter not only will eliminate all the social programs of the Government, but also put Venezuela on the brink of a civil war.

No matter how many billions of dollars they spent on the campaign, how many consultants from the U.S. they have attracted, there is a farce behind this cover, said Chavez.

However, Capriles' consultants, apparently, are rather competent. He does not criticize Chavez's social achievements and does not use the recent explosion at Amuay refinery that killed 42 people against him. However, sometimes he does attack. During the presidential visit to the oil-producing state of Monagas, Capriles said that no one heard the proposals of the government candidate. He added that the latter was thinking about saving the Earth, saving mankind, instead of thinking of the tragedies in the oil industry. The elections will show if he has chosen the right strategy.

What are the chances of the candidates? Henrique Capriles Radonski, 40, a candidate of the Democratic Union (MUD), was born on July 11, 1972 in Caracas in a Catholic family of Jewish origin.  He is a grandson of Polish Jews, who in the 1940s fled from the Nazis to Venezuela. His parents are involved with the business and industrial sectors of the country, among others, in the media (newspaper company "Cadena Capriles"), in the entertainment industry ("Sineks"), and the real estate sector. His social background is not that attractive, but he is a new face in the opposition, and this is a plus.

The president, 57 year old Hugo Chavez Frias, head of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PUSV), has been in power since 1999. According to the latest X-Files of WikiLeaks, Russian doctors invited for consultation in Caracas, gave Chavez no chance of recovery. The former physician of Chavez, Salvador Navarrete, said that the president would live "a maximum of two years."

However, the dance on the future grave of Chavez will only add to his points in the rating, especially from the female population. If Capriles secured 3,000,000 votes in the primaries, Chavez has 7,000,000 followers in his party alone.

Lyuba Lulko

Pravda.Ru 

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