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Venezuela in a quagmire
[Al Jazeera] Some say that Venezuelan presidential candidate Henri Falcon is attempting the political equivalent of climbing to the top of Mount Everest alone - and without oxygen.Once a staunch supporter of deceased populist leader Hugo Chavez, the former Lara State governor broke with the Socialist party in 2010. He is now promising to "save Venezuela from a dictatorship and economic ruin" if he is elected president on May 20. Falcon is one of three outsiders in a race where the main opposition parties are conspicuously absent from the ballot. They are declaring the vote a "sham" and appealing to Venezuelans to stay away from the polls. "On May 20, there are no elections," said Juan Pablo Guanipa, of the opposition Voluntad Popular Party. "We aren't talking about abstention or of not voting." "We simply won't participate in a farce," he added. "We don't recognise the event that will take place as a legitimate election." One the eve of the election, Maduro's Minister of Communications Jorge Rodriguez lashed out at domestic and international critics. "It is very strange that the international community is declaring a fraud even before the election takes place," Rodriguez said. Posted by: Fred 2018-05-19 |
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