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Chavez bashes capitalism, U.S. to distract voters
2008-10-17
CARACAS, Venezuela -- As crucial elections approach, President Hugo Chavez is ratcheting up attacks on opposition forces and wielding other polarizing tactics to distract Venezuelans from the nation's glaring problems, including soaring inflation and a record-high crime rate. Muzi.com News 10081479-1 (muzi.com) Chavez has expelled the U.S. ambassador, labeled the U.S. economic crisis as representative of capitalism's failures and alleged once again that he's the target of an assassination plot while hurling insults at his political rivals. Muzi.com News 10081479-2 (muzi.com) As in past elections, analysts say that Chavez wants the Nov. 23 vote to be a referendum on himself, to capitalize on his personal popularity. With that strategy, they say, he hopes to distract voters from his unpopular policies and the day-to-day misery of their lives. Muzi.com News 10081479-3 (muzi.com) "Chavez wants people to forget about the potholes in the street, the electric blackouts, the water shortages, the trash in the streets and the rising insecurity," said Luis Vicente Leon , an independent Caracas -based pollster. "Chavez wants the campaign focused on him, because his approval rating has risen from 46 percent in January to 58 percent. He's trying to polarize the electorate. He's tried this approach before, and it has worked." Muzi.com News 10081479-4 (muzi.com) The elections are important for several reasons, analysts said. Chavez and his political allies are trying to retain their near-total control of Venezuela's levers of power. Muzi.com News 10081479-5 (muzi.com) After he suffered his first-ever electoral defeat in a referendum last December to rewrite the Constitution, a second loss would further embolden the opposition and complicate Chavez's plans for holding another referendum next year to get voters' approval to lift term limits. Chavez currently can't seek re-election when his term ends in 2012. Muzi.com News 10081479-6 (muzi.com) Building his political strength at home also allows him to continue expanding his anti-U.S. alliance throughout Latin America , using petro dollars. Muzi.com News 10081479-7 (muzi.com) In the Caricuao neighborhood of Caracas last Saturday, Chavez supporters used heavy-handed tactics. Muzi.com News 10081479-8 (muzi.com) A sound truck blaring campaign jingles for Antonio Ledezma , the opposition candidate for mayor, wound slowly up a hill toward a slum neighborhood, where Ledezma was planning to campaign. Muzi.com News 10081479-9 (muzi.com) As the truck reached a bend in the road, red-shirted Chavez supporters brandishing pistols jumped in front of the vehicle, forcing it to stop. They smashed the windshield, knifed the tires and fired five shots into the truck's back compartment. Muzi.com News 10081479-10 (muzi.com) "I was afraid for my life," driver Williams Gonzalez said, still shaking a few minutes later. Muzi.com News 10081479-11 (muzi.com) These Chavez supporters who zip about on motorcycles are known as the "motorized force." One of them later blamed Ledezma and his allies for provoking the assault. Muzi.com News 10081479-12 (muzi.com) "They can carry out their campaign, but not here," said Nestor Chacon , who identified himself as a member of the motorized force, though he said he didn't see the attack. "The barrios belong to Chavez." Muzi.com News 10081479-13 (muzi.com) Ledezma had to cancel that campaign event. Muzi.com News 10081479-14 (muzi.com) A day later, Carlos Ocariz , an opposition candidate for mayor of Sucre, an impoverished Caracas subdivision, had to scoot into a trailing security vehicle when Chavez supporters began hurling rocks at Ocariz's campaign workers and him. Muzi.com News 10081479-15 (muzi.com) "The government wants to polarize the country," Ocariz said later, sipping coffee in a bakery. "They want to make it into a referendum on Chavez, because he's more popular than his candidates. We want to focus on concrete proposals by our candidates." Muzi.com News 10081479-16 (muzi.com) Ocariz's approach seems to be working. A survey last week by Datanalisis, Leon's polling company, showed Ocariz leading Chavez's former minister of information by 16 points. Muzi.com News 10081479-17 (muzi.com) Crime and the economy are helping Ocariz and other opposition candidates, particularly in Caracas . Inflation there has reached 35 percent -- the highest in Latin America -- and crime has spun so far out of control that Foreign Policy magazine recently labeled Caracas the world's murder capital. Muzi.com News 10081479-18 (muzi.com) "You're worried when you go out at night," said Raquel Ledezma , a 59-year-old unemployed government office worker who was campaigning with Ocariz. "A lot of young men have been killed." Muzi.com News 10081479-19 (muzi.com) At stake in the election are 22 of Venezuela's 23 governorships -- Chavez allies won all but two of those races in 2004 -- and some 320 mayoral offices, most now held by Chavistas. Muzi.com News 10081479-20 (muzi.com) Among the more intriguing opposition candidates is Chavez's ex-wife, Marisabel Rodriguez . The former first lady is running for mayor of Barquisimeto, the capital of Lara state, west of Caracas . Leon said his polls found that she had a shot at winning. Muzi.com News 10081479-21 (muzi.com) A bellwether race is in Chavez's native state, Barinas. One of his brothers is campaigning to succeed their father as governor against a one-time Chavez supporter. Muzi.com News 10081479-22 (muzi.com) Anibal Romero , a political scientist at Caracas' Metropolitan University , predicted that Chavez would lose up to eight of the governorships and more than 100 mayoral races. Muzi.com News 10081479-23 (muzi.com) "That would be a defeat for Chavez because he doesn't want to see any mayor's offices or governorships in opposition hands," Romero said. Muzi.com News 10081479-24 (muzi.com) Besides control of the executive branch and most local and state offices, Chavez allies control the military, the Central Bank , the judiciary and all but seven seats in the Congress . Muzi.com News 10081479-25 (muzi.com) A Chavez-appointed court infuriated the opposition in August by disqualifying several of its strongest candidates because of corruption charges that the opposition labeled as politically motivated. Leopoldo Lopez , the telegenic mayor of the Caracas subdivision of Chacao, was leading the race to be the mayor of metropolitan Caracas until the court barred him from running. Muzi.com News 10081479-26 (muzi.com) Venezuelans first elected Chavez president 10 years ago. They were fed up with the failure of the country's two traditional political parties to use Venezuela's oil wealth to build an economy that benefited everyone. Muzi.com News 10081479-27 (muzi.com) As president, Chavez has used the state's record oil income with an eye to winning support at home and outside Venezuela . Muzi.com News 10081479-28 (muzi.com) He's nationalized telephone, dairy and cement companies, tilting the country far to the left. Muzi.com News 10081479-29 (muzi.com) He's handed out billions of dollars to the poor in Venezuela and given billions more to friendly governments in Bolivia , Ecuador , Cuba and elsewhere. In turn, Cuba has sent thousands of doctors and nurses to provide free health care in Venezuela's slums. Muzi.com News 10081479-30 (muzi.com) A charismatic leader, Chavez reminds impoverished Venezuelans that he, too, comes from humble origins. Many ordinary citizens think that Venezuela finally has a president who cares about them. Muzi.com News 10081479-31 (muzi.com) "He's the only president who has given everyone a chance to participate in the system," said Mario Montilla , a 40-year-old construction worker in Sucre. "The Cuban doctors give good health care. Elderly people get high school degrees through the missions." Muzi.com News 10081479-32 (muzi.com) Alejandro Gomez , a 26-year-old auto mechanic in Sucre, complained that he and his family frequently find themselves without running water. But he still supports Chavez. Muzi.com News 10081479-33 (muzi.com) "He paved our street two years ago," Gomez said as he downed a Polar Ice beer on a humid afternoon. "He's brought a lot of benefits to people." Muzi.com News 10081479-34 (muzi.com) However, pollster Alfredo Keller said most Venezuelans didn't like Chavez's close ties with Cuba , his socialist policies or his failure to reduce crime. Muzi.com News 10081479-35 (muzi.com) Disillusionment with Chavez's shortcomings led to his defeat in last year's referendum. Many of his supporters simply stayed home, said Steve Ellner , a political scientist at Venezuela's Eastern University . Muzi.com News 10081479-36 (muzi.com) "Chavez is making the rounds to make sure that that doesn't happen again," Ellner said. Muzi.com News 10081479-37 (muzi.com) MORE FROM MCCLATCHY: Muzi.com News 10081479-38 (muzi.com) Latin American markets rally, but region still shaky Muzi.com News 10081479-39 (muzi.com)
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