In case you haven't been paying close attention to your South American politics for the past 14 years, you might be surprised to find that Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's cult-of-personality president, is facing a stiff re-election challenge on Oct. 7. Basically Chavez has presided over a widespread meltdown of the country's wealth, social institutions, businesses, middle class, perceived stability, rule of law and public trust. His opponent is the young, charismatic Henrique Capriles Radonski. Capriles is campaigning by walking throughout the country; the Financial Times reported this week on his "liberally toss[ing] baseball caps emblazoned with the colours of the Venezuelan flag into the writhing mass of an adoring crowd." Chavez, ever the charmer, apparently refers to those selfsame crowds of Capriles supporters as "the squalid ones."
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