VENEZUELA: Hundreds of thousands take to the streets of Caracas for closing campaign rally of President Hugo Chavez

Record ID: 346352

  • Title: VENEZUELA: Hundreds of thousands take to the streets of Caracas for closing campaign rally of President Hugo Chavez
  • Date: 27th November 2006
  • Summary: (W5) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (NOVEMBER 26, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS OF PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ WITH SIGNS AND FLAGS PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ STANDING ON STAGE, SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM GENERAL VIEW OF CROWD SINGING WITH HIM (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHAVEZ SAYING: "On December 3 we're going to defeat the most powerful empire on earth by knockout." GENERAL VIEW OF CROWD CHEERING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHAVEZ SAYING: "Vote, vote for the revolution, vote for Venezuela, vote for victory, vote for the future, vote for liberty, vote for independence, vote for the truth." GENERAL VIEW OF CROWD CHEERING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CHAVEZ SAYING: "I will wait for all of you on the third of December standing on the balcony of the people, until then my brothers and sisters." GENERAL VIEW OF CROWD CHEERING VARIOUS OF CHAVEZ PARADING THROUGH THE STREETS IN A CARAVAN, THOUSANDS CHEERING
  • Embargoed: 12th December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA91CEZOJ4M4HJO5EBYOJQDXHDS
  • Story Text: Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez on Sunday (November 26) promised hundreds of thousands of supporters he would win a resounding victory in his December 3 reelection bid he describes as a challenge to Washington.
    The former soldier, a self-styled revolutionary openly confronted with Washington, is favoured in the polls to beat rival Manuel Rosales after building a solid political base through a social development campaign financed by oil revenues.
    Chavez supporters flooded Caracas thoroughfares waving flags and banners, congregating in different parts of centre of the capital a day after Rosales sympathizers held a similar march to close out his campaign in the capital city.
    "On December 3 we're going to defeat the most powerful empire on earth by knockout," said Chavez, who ruffled feathers in New York in October by calling George W. Bush the devil at the United Nations.
    Donning red like most of his supporters, Chavez delivered a fiery two-hour oratory marked by his signature combination of bellicose leftist rhetoric and juvenile crowd antics typical of pop music concerts.
    He spent nearly 10 minutes trying to see which of four groups of demonstrators in different parts of downtown Caracas could cheer louder -- then told them all to be quiet.
    Following his speech, he drove through the packed Avenida Bolivar standing atop a campaign vehicle, dancing to political jingles and occasionally reaching into the crowd to shake hands with supporters.
    His rally came in contrast with the opposition march on Saturday in which Rosales maintained an emotional but stern tone, rarely cracking a smile and struggling to make to jokes.
    Rosales' campaign has targeted key issues like soaring crime rates, government intimidation of voters and growing dissatisfaction with Chavez's energy cooperation deals with other countries that Rosales describes as "giveaways."
    Rosales in August successfully united a fractured opposition movement that failed to oust Chavez through a a botched coup and a grueling two-month oil strike in 2002 and a failed recall referendum in 2004.
    But most polls still give Chavez a wide lead, with one AP-Ipsos poll showing Chavez sweeping 59 percent of likely voters compared to only 27 for Rosales -- who points to opposition linked polls that show the race much tighter.
    Chavez, a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro first elected in 1998, has galvanized the nation's poor with promises of a revolution but sparked outcry among the middle class critics who call him an authoritarian.
    The U.S. State Department describes him as a menace to regional democracy, though Venezuela remains the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States.
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