Venezuela's opposition leader wants to apply the Brazilian economic model to his country.
Opposition leader enamoured with Brazilian model
Monday, 13 February 2012 11:47
CARACAS: Despite his relatively young age, 39-year-old Governor Henrique Capriles, who won Venezuela's opposition primaries on Sunday, is an experienced and tireless politician, who wants to apply the Brazilian economic model to his country.
The governor of Miranda state, the second most populous in the country, accepts the left-wing label. But he has praised private enterprise while insisting that social policy should be the first priority of a state.
Fit, medium-built and with short brown hair, Capriles has crisscrossed highly polarized Venezuela since 2008, tirelessly calling for "unity" among political parties in order to bring about an end to 13-year rule of President Hugo Chavez.
A member and then speaker of the now-disbanded National Assembly, he was elected to the legislature when he was only 26 on a Christian-Democratic list, becoming one of the youngest leaders of the opposition.
Reserved, he campaigned without directly confronting Chavez in order not to alienate the working class, which is mostly loyal to the president who assures his support thanks to multiple social programs.
"Chavez represents the path to socialism, a state that wants to be master of everything. I represent the path to progress," said Capriles, who admitted that he wanted to "apply to Venezuela the Brazilian model."
"The key is the fight against poverty driven by economic growth," he continued, referring to programs implemented by former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Capriles also wants to put an end to the possibility of indefinite re-elections of the president and abrogate laws that allow expropriation of land.
Born on July 11, 1972, Capriles is a grandson of a family of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust. He is a lawyer by profession specializing in business law.
His first elected job was in the district of Baruta, which forms part of the national capital, where he was supported by a Social-Christian party named Justice First.
He was re-elected mayor in 2004 after spending four months in detention following accusations by authorities that he had not adequately responded to an attack on the Cuban Embassy during an attempted coup against Hugo Chavez in April 2002.
The charges against Capriles were eventually dropped. "When you pass through the prison, there are two roads to follow," he recalled, thanking his grandmother for having taught him to avoid bitterness. "Either you walk away from everything that has to do with your faith, your
Christian part, or you get closer to it. I got closer."He says he admires former South African president Nelson Mandela and believes that the anti-apartheid leader represents a model for Venezuela, which is deeply divided between supporters and opponents of Chavez.
As governor, he is focusing his work on education, restoration of decrepit housing and facilitating access to health care.
Capriles claims that his presidency would inaugurate a "cycle of progress" in Venezuela by using the same model that led to Brazil's economic boom.
Capriles also promises to address Venezuela's biggest problems, including a dearth of housing, soaring crime and a 28 percent inflation rate, the highest in Latin America.
On the personal side, he is single and, as he puts it, "in search of a First Lady." Capriles, who is also supported by many disgruntled Chavistas, now begins a fierce election campaign focused on the social needs of the country.
But he has a distinct financial disadvantage compared with the incumbent president candidate, who is seeking a third term in office and is widely supported by the poor masses. |
