Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been reelected with 54 percent of the vote. He defeated former state governor Henrique Capriles. Chavez won his third six-year term, still recovering from his fight with cancer."Despite his illness, I still think he retains a strong emotional connection with a lot of Venezuelans that I think were not prepared to vote against him," said "Inter American Dialogue" expert Michael Shifter. "The people of Venezuela still think that he’s trying hard even if he’s not delivering what he promised, that he still has their best interests at heart," he continued.
After the announcement, Chavez’s supporters danced on the streets of Caracas, celebrating their leader or as they call him, "the President that belongs to his people, the poor and the working class. He is the president of the poor, not president of the rich." While 56 percent of Venezuelans were celebrating, the remaining 44 percent listened to the speech of their Candidate, Henrique Capriles." We began the construction of a path and on it there are more than six million people who are looking for a better future… I’m convinced that this country can be better and I’m convinced that Venezuela is going to be better," Capriles said.
The results are not a surprise though. Venezuela is a deeply divided country. Chavez is popular among voters, especially for his anti-american policies. Unlike Chavez, Caprilles is often described as more open minded. "I would move relations away from countries like Belarus and Iran.I would accelerate the peace process between the Colombian rebel group FARC and the Colombian government," Capriles stated in an interview
Bibiana Sucre, who lives in Caracas thinks that nothing will change in the future." Times change, but Chavez doesn’t change," she says." This is six more years of giving away our enormous oil revenues to support expired political models in foreign countries. Six more yeas of doing nothing to solve the real problems affecting us," she continued." Right now I feel Venezuela is the daughter of all of us, the daughter who married the wrong guy, the guy that beats her, abuses her, exploits her, and gives her nothing but a few coins of spare change."
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