CARACAS, Venezuela -- Thousands of cheering, crying admirers accompanied President Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor Monday as he registered to be a candidate to replace the dead leader, while forcing the main opposition candidate to delay his entry into the race.The massive crowd thronged acting President Nicolas Maduro and blocked opposition candidate Henrique Capriles from registering for the April 14 vote by the 2 p.m. deadline.
| Full-fledged fascism on display -- especially in WaPo's choice of headline... |
Maduro also announced a change in Chavez's final resting place Monday, and the information ministry later said that officials had not decided what will happen to the late president's body.
| Vultures need to eat same as worms... |
Thousands applauded from a plaza outside the National Election Commission, waving banners and holding up posters of Chavez as Maduro registered. Many wore the red shirts and baseball caps of Chavez's ruling Socialist Party, letting out a loud cheer when acting President Nicolas Maduro arrived to sign his election papers.
Some cried as Maduro saluted them from the building's balcony, eulogizing Chavez once again as Venezuela's "father redeemer" and asking God to give him "the wisdom to allow me to carry out the orders he gave us."
| As interpreted by him, of course... |
| Criminy, two hours? What is it with these long-winded socialist windbags? |
| Ah, the AG is his wife. There's a fine example of fascist governance... |
Opposition supporters denounced the carefully stage-managed event as an affront to basic electoral fairness. The electoral commission is meant to play an impartial role ensuring the vote is fair and free.
Capriles announced his candidacy Sunday, while blasting Chavez's top lieutenants for trying to use the president's death to stoke passions and tilt the election.
"You are playing politics with the president's body," he said, adding that he wasn't convinced the government had been honest about when Chavez died, and had lied to the people during his long illness by insisting he would get better. The government says Chavez succumbed to cancer on Tuesday after a nearly two-year battle. It has offered almost no clinical information.
Capriles previously called Maduro a shameless liar and referred to him condescendingly as "boy."
Maduro appeared right after Capriles on state TV on Sunday, accusing "the losing, miserable candidate" of defaming Chavez and his family. He called Capriles a "fascist" who was trying to provoke violence by insulting the "crystalline, pure image of Commander Chavez."