“My plan is to demolish the ultra-right so that a true opposition arises, because I am ready to work with them,” Venezuelan socialist President Hugo Chavez told a mass rally of supporters of his re-election campaign in the Caracas neighbourhood of Charallave on September 9.
“Not before placing the condition that these opponents respect the national constitution and not walk around with hidden agendas, such as the 'little package',” Chavez said, referring to the neoliberal program being put forward by the Roundtable for Democratic Unity (MUD)'s candidate on behalf of right-wing opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski).”
Chavez leads Capriles Radonski in most opinion polls for the October 7 election by between 18-24%. Campaign Carobobo in support of Chavez is organising a rolling series of mass rallies and marches around the country, revealing strong support for the revolutionary candidate especially among youth.
Chavez's campaign seeks as strong a mandate as possible to deepen the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela over the next six years' presidential term. Chavez is standing on a detailed platform to accelerate radical change in the country.
By contrast, Venezuelan Vice-President Elias Jaura said the MUD program of Capriles is based on a policy of neo-liberal denationalisation for Venezuela. According to the September 8 Ultimas Noticias he told the Televen TV network that the real program of the opposition has the aim of dismantling the system of law and social justice which exists now, and privatise the people's resources.
Chavez told the rally in Charallave on September 9 that Capriles wants to convert Venezuela into a “Yankee colony, in order to rob our oil and our national wealth”.
At a previous big rally in the Poliedro stadium in Caracas on September 7, Chavez called on his supporters: “Everything must be co-ordinated, mesh together. We must have united action within the electoral campaign in order to achieve our victory.”