Monthly Archives: February 2012

Feb
3
2012
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Meet the Candidates: Pablo Pérez Álvarez

Meet the Candidates: Pablo Pérez Álvarez

Today, as part of What’s Next Venezuela’s “Meet the Candidates” series, we introduce Venezuelan opposition candidate Pablo Pérez Álvarez.

An attorney, public servant and elected official, Pablo Pérez, the current Governor of the State of Zulia, is running as the candidate of the Un Nuevo Tiempo (A New Era) party in the upcoming opposition primaries in Venezuela.

Pérez’s political career began in 1995 under Manuel Rosales, the then-mayor of Maracaibo where he held various municipal positions. Later, when Rosales was elected Governor of Zulia, Pérez held several governmental posts at the state level, including serving as personal secretary to Governor Rosales.

In 2004, Pérez ran for mayor of Maracaibo as a member of Un Nuevo Tiempo. He was defeated in a close race by Gian Carlo di Martino, who was aligned with President Chávez. Four years later, Pérez was elected Governor of Zulia, Venezuela’s oil-rich and most populous state, with nearly 54 percent of the votes. As governor, Pérez has spent much of his time in the field, meeting with Chávez supporters and the city’s poor.

Besides the support Pérez enjoys from UNT, the leading opposition political party in Zulia, he also has garnered the backing of the two traditional “old establishment” political parties in Venezuela – Acción Democrática (AD) and COPEI. Perez is a strong proponent of greater decentralization in the country, where power is redistributed from the central government to state governments. He also advocates for PDVSA, the state oil company, to focus on oil production, and divesting itself from all the other duties the current government has imposed on it, such as managing food stores and importing products to Venezuela. He also says he would attempt once gain to impose presidential term limits.

In the polls ahead of the February 12 elections, Pérez finds himself in second place behind Miranda Governor Henrique Capriles. His ability to win the election will largely fall on the ability of UNT, AD, and COPEI to mobilize their core voters. All three parties are known for having an effective political operation; the question remains whether it is as large as it has been in the past. While Pérez represents a new generation of politicians in Venezuela, some believe that the support he enjoys by many in the “old guard” of opposition politics may hurt his chances, as he may be seen as a candidate of the past political establishment.

Leading into the elections, Pérez has established a platform focused on:

  • Using the proceeds of oil sales to establish social programs, especially at universities, through the creation of merit-based scholarships and the implementation of a rightful social security systems for professors;
  • Recovering unused spaces and misused funds to guarantee the security and quality of services provided in hospitals throughout the country;
  • Reducing impunity and imposing an effective crime prevention system through education, job creation and the forming of civil security committees;
  • Liberating political prisoners and allowing political exiles to return home;
  • Decentralizing the government and restoring power to local governments;
  • Reestablishing term limits;
  • Ending expropriations.

Click here to learn more about Pablo Pérez on his website.

 
Feb
2
2012
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Meet the Candidates: Pablo Medina

screenshot Meet the Candidates: Pablo Medina

Today, as part of What’s Next Venezuela’s “Meet the Candidates” series, we introduce Venezuelan opposition candidate Pablo Medina.

Pablo Medina, a former Hugo Chávez supporter, is running as the Labor Movement’s candidate in the 2012 Venezuelan primary elections.

Early in his political career, in 1971, Medina co-founded La Causa Radical or “Causa R” – a working-class, left-wing party – with communist proponent Alfredo Maneiro. Medina took an active role in the party, helping to rally support in the State of Bolívar and some parts of Caracas through the Matancero Movement, a union-based faction focused on organizing factory workers. In 1988, Medina was one of three Causa R candidates to win seats in Congress.

In 1992, Medina played a minor role in the Chávez-led coup attempt against the Carlos Andrés Pérez government. Three years later, he was appointed Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies and headed a commission tasked with investigating the country’s external debt. In 1997, Causa R split between a radical faction led by Medina and favored by a majority of the party, and a moderate one led by Andrés Velásquez.

That same year, upon leaving Causa R, Medina created a new party – Patria Para Todos (PPT) or Homeland for All. He was joined by several well-known figures close to Chávez, including Aristóbulo Istúriz and Alí Rodríguez Araque. Despite his original support of Chávez in the 1998 elections, Medina questioned Chávez’s antics during the 2000 Constitutional Assembly. When Medina refused to go along with the changes to the Venezuelan Constitution, arguing that the changes gave the president too much power, he officially broke away from the Chávez camp. In 2002, Medina actively supported yet another attempted coup, this time against Chávez himself.

Today, Medina hopes to face off with Chávez in the October general elections. As a Labor Movement candidate, Medina hopes to secure the support of workers and unions from the public and private sectors.

Medina is one of Chávez’s most ardent critics. He has accused the president of treason and called for an investigation of Chávez’s close ties to Cuba and his handling of a scandal involving imported food that rotted in scores of misplaced shipping containers.

Leading into the February primary elections, Medina has established a platform focused on:

  • Reorganizing the current political structure, stressing the need to decentralize and re-distribute power to the local entities. He has called for the creation of a new Constitutional Assembly that would restore the balance of power between the federal government and the states;
  • Creating a “Republic of Workers,” developing short- and long-term plans to create as many as one million jobs in the country;
  •  Decentralizing and streamlining the state run industries, including returning expropriated farmland to their rightful owners;
  • Creating a safer environment for all Venezuelans by reorganizing the country’s security forces and returning power to the municipal police forces, so they can better tackle crime in their regions.

Click here to learn more about Pablo Medina on his website.

 
Feb
1
2012
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Meet the Candidates: Henrique Capriles Radonski

Capriles Meet the Candidates: Henrique Capriles Radonski

Today, as part of What’s Next Venezuela’s “Meet the Candidates” series, we introduce Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski.

Henrique Capriles Radonski leads the pack in the Venezuelan opposition presidential primaries. His frontrunner status was consolidated earlier this month when former contender Leopoldo López withdrew from the race and endorsed Capriles.

Capriles’ national political career began in 1998, when at 26 he was elected to the then Chamber of Deputies, becoming the youngest elected member of Venezuela’s parliament. Capriles’ served as President of the Chamber of Deputies until it was dissolved under the Chávez-led constitutional assembly of 1999.

In 2000, Capriles was elected mayor of Baruta, a division of the Greater Caracas municipality in Venezuela. While mayor, he was arrested and jailed for four months after being accused of fomenting attacks on the Cuban embassy in Venezuela during the 2002 coup attempt against Hugo Chávez. He was acquitted of all charges. The U.S. Department of State referenced Capriles’ case in its 2008 Human Rights report, calling it “a denial of a fair and public trial.”

Following his second term as mayor, Capriles was elected in 2008 governor of Miranda, one of the largest and most densely populated states in the country. Despite moves by the Chávez administration to bar him from the election, Capriles received 53 percent of the popular vote and defeated Chávez’s right hand man Diosdado Cabello.

As governor, Capriles has successfully improved Miranda’s education system and aided the state’s poorest citizens. During his time in office, Capriles has revitalized 400 of Miranda’s schools and provided food, shelter and education to more than 2,500 families in poverty through his “Zero Hunger Plan.”

Throughout his career, Capriles has been an outspoken critic of the Chávez administration, particularly with regard to expropriations. A commerce lawyer by trade, he has argued vigorously for the decentralization of government power and for re-opening trade and diplomatic ties with other Western democracies.

Capriles, who is running under the banner of the Primero Justicia party, is particularly strong among younger Venezuelans. Having no connection to the old political establishment and favoring the moderate center left government model of Brazil, Capriles is a fresh new alternative for all Venezuelans. His campaign slogan, “Hay un Camino” (There is a way) was crafted to convey a sense of optimism and potential in Venezuela’s future.

Heading into the February primary elections, Capriles has established a platform focused on:

  • Ending impunity for criminals and drug traffickers and developing an effective penal system;
  • Gradually rescinding the artificial exchange rates and other currency controls imposed by Chávez;
  • Reforming Venezuela’s education system and improving upon the success of Venezuela’s welfare programs known as “misiones”;
  • Reducing corruption and political interference in Venezuela’s public sector;
  • Decentralizing the Venezuelan government, returning authority to the country’s state and local governments.

Click here to learn more about Henrique Capriles Radonski on his website.