Inside Story Americas: The Battle for Venezuela's Future

October 02, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

The streets of Venezuela's cities have been packed, as rival presidential candidates hold some of their final rallies before Sunday's election. Having batttled cancer for much of the last year, President Hugo Chavez is hoping to win another term in office - he has led the country since 1999. If he suceeds, he has promised to expand his socialist programmes further, which are mainly focused on Venezuela's poor. However, his opponent, the 40-year-old Henrique Capriles, says that Chavez's policies have left the country with a multitude of problems. He has pledged the country will be more pro-business under his leadership.

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Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías was a Venezuelan politician who was the President of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when it merged with several other parties to form the Un... Explore this topic

Venezuelan presidential election, 2012

The Venezuelan presidential election of 2012 was held on 7 October 2012 to choose a president for the six-year term beginning February 2013. After the approval of the Ammandment No. 1 of the Constitution of Venezuela in 2009, which abolished term limits; incumbent Hugo Chávez,... Explore this topic

Henrique Capriles Radonski

Henrique Capriles Radonski is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer. From 2000 until 2008, Capriles was the mayor of Baruta Municipality of Caracas. In November 2008, Capriles was elected Governor of Miranda, defeating Diosdado Cabello. After winning the election primaries in Feb... Explore this topic

Venezuela

Venezuela, officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high... Explore this topic

Politics of Venezuela

The politics of Venezuela occurs in a framework explained in Government of Venezuela. Venezuela has a multi-party system, with numerous parties. The governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) was created in 2007, uniting a numbe... Explore this topic

US-Venezuela relations

United States–Venezuela relations have traditionally been characterized by an important trade and investment relationship and cooperation in combating the production and transit of illegal drugs. Relations were strong under conservative neoliberal governments in Venezuela like... Explore this topic

Election rally

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President of Venezuela

The President of Venezuela (Spanish: Presidente de Venezuela) is both the head of state and head of government of Venezuela. The current presidential term is for six years with the constitutionally guaranteed recourse of holding a popular recall referendum anytime within the l... Explore this topic

Nicaragua

Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordering Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places... Explore this topic

Cuba

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the capital of Cuba and its largest city, followed by Santiago de Cuba. To the nor... Explore this topic

Also See

Hugo Chávez

Venezuelan presidential election, 2012

Henrique Capriles Radonski

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