Venezuelan rivals trade barbs as election campaign starts

VENEZUELA: Venezuela has entered a bitter election race to succeed Hugo Chavez, with his chosen successor branding his challenger a "fascist" after the opposition candidate accused him of exploiting the late leader's death.

Henrique Capriles accepted Sunday the nomination of the main opposition coalition for the April 14 election, immediately launching a broadside against acting President Nicolas Maduro by accusing him of being "sick with power." "Nicolas, I won't leave you an open path, mate. You are going to have to defeat me with votes," said Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October presidential election by 11 points and faces an uphill battle against Maduro.

Chavez, whose socialist revolution divided his oil-rich nation, is casting a huge shadow in the election, with throngs of supporters flocking to see his body lying in state since Wednesday at a Caracas military academy.

Maduro says the government will embalm Chavez's body to be viewed "like Lenin" in a glass casket "for eternity." "Now on top of it all, you are using the body of the President to stage a political campaign," said Capriles, the energetic 40-year-old Miranda state governor.

After weeks of rumors about the President's health, Maduro went on national television last Tuesday to announce the death of Chavez, telling that nation that the firebrand leftist had lost his two-year battle with cancer at the age of 58.

AFP