Venezuela prepares for post-Chavez election next month
(Vatican Radio) Venezuela's main opposition leader has announced he'll run against
acting President Nicolas Maduro in an election on April 14th, to decide who'll be
the next leader of Venezuela, Following the death of Hugo Chavez. It's becoming crystal
clear that the two men have little or no time for one another. They used televised
addresses to inflict bile and show mutual antipathy. The official opposition refused
to attend the swearing in of Nicolas Maduro, insisting the Constitution states that
the National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello should be the acting President. State
Governor Henrique Capriles, who put up a good showing in October's Presidential Election
against an ailing Hugo Chavez, who defeated him, says this latest move is to empower
Nicolas Maduro is plain fraud. Maduro ,who's also already the declared Presidential
Candidate for the PSUV ruling Party, has wasted little time in hitting back, accusing
Capriles of stirring up hatred, and of a being a fascist. He's also accusing Capriles
of disrespecting the memory of Hugo Chavez. This doesn't bode well for the post Chavez
era, and definitively shows how both sides are tooth and nail mulling and mauling
for one prize: The Miraflores Presidential Palace. Listen to the report from
correspondent James Blears: