Venezuela's marathon man looks to run down Chavez
Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader who runs marathons in his spare time, hopes to give Hugo Chavez a close race in elections next weekend, reports Philip Sherwell.

By Philip Sherwell, Maracaibo, Venezuela

5:44PM BST 29 Sep 2012

Comments145 Comments

Soaked by rain and perspiration, Henrique Capriles retreated reluctantly inside his campaign bus as the horn-blowing, flag-waving convoy crept through the pot-holed streets of the slums of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second city.

A late evening tropical thunderstorm had finally forced him from his place atop a pick-up truck after a typical 12-hour day of rapturous rallies and rock-star receptions for the dashing 40-year-old opposition leader.

Undeterred by the downpour, the exuberant crowds outside chanted his name as firecrackers erupted in the pitch-darkness that is graphic testimony to the failure of the country with the world's largest oil reserves to deliver electricity to its own poor.

In Venezuela's presidential elections on Sunday, Mr Capriles faces one of the toughest challenges in global politics - defeating Hugo Chavez.

The socialist autocrat dominates the airwaves and is tapping the state's deep oil coffers to fund his campaign and "buy" votes with a calculated explosion of investment in populist social programme in the weeks before the vote.

But despite its energy riches, the country is mired in debt and unemployment as state-imposed price and exchange rate controls shackle the economy. And violent crime is so endemic that Caracas has the unenviable ranking of the murder capital of the world.

Now, with the long-divided opposition united for the first time behind a charismatic state governor who is already a veteran of Venezuela's rough-and-tumble politics despite his youthful years, President Chavez is facing his most serious competition at the ballot box since he came to power in 1998.

At stake is the grip on power of an anti-Western firebrand who embraces Iran and China and is seeking to use the nation's oil wealth to export his dream of a socialist revolution across Latin America.

(Continued)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/philip-sherwell/9576153/Venezuelas-marathon-man-looks-to-run-down-Chavez.html

Chavez vows to run more efficient govt if he wins Venezuela

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Of course it would. Because I'm the guy proposing it.

We already have primaries. This would simply be an expansion on that theme and a more indepth involvement for those so inclined. Those who don't want to participate don't have to but the beauty of this system is that corporations would no longer have nearly as much sway as they do now.

Oct 7, 10:40 PM EDT

Chavez wins re-election, electoral council says
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AP_LT_VENEZUELA_ELECTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-07-22-40-12

VeeDotJA2

It is important to note that Hitler was elected, [..]

No, he was not. He lost the 1932 presidential election to Hindenburg. Hitler then used political tactics and intrigue to force the president to appoint him chancellor in 1933. The following elections and legislation were no longer free but at least half directed by terror, oppression, intimidation and murder.
(E.g. the enabling act took place with armed forces of SS and SA being present in parliament while all communist and some socialist representatives had been illegally arrested)
In the end Hitler appointed himself president.

Khor1255

I now have a new favorite poster. Welcome aboard man.

Nice, as usual the mouth breathing gaper has so much to offer. Careful not to drool too much in your own lap.

Quote:

It was never exactly rocket science. You didn

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Every American citizen who wants to participate in the system could tally their votes (likes, dislikes, indifference) for each politician that pertains to them. Obviously someone from California would have no say in what a senator from Maine did etc but everyone would get a vote on purely federal officials. These votes would determine how large a piece of the public fund each candidate would get towards his election. The system would be regulated by having numerous tallying stations according to party lines and non affiliates. In other words everyone would be chacking everyone else's numbers.

15 May 2013 Last updated at 05:20 GMT

How food shortages are dividing Venezuela
By Irene Caselli BBC News, Caracas
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22526622

If this gets any more than 5 genuine replies , my hat will be eaten :moosegrin:

Venezuela

[Updated on: Sat, 15 February 2014 23:01] by Moderator

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