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In reply to the discussion: Hugo Chavez: Venezuela leader suffers 'new complications' [View all]Judi Lynn
(160,524 posts)Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Analysis - Venezuela's Maduro channels Chavez, lacks his charisma
By Daniel Wallis and Brian Ellsworth
CARACAS (Reuters) - He uses Hugo Chavez's bombastic language, brandishes the constitution and showers opponents with vitriol at every turn.
But Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro is struggling to replicate the extraordinary charisma of his boss, who is battling to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba.
Named as heir apparent by Chavez just before the president returned to Havana for his fourth surgery in December, the 50-year-old former bus driver has become the face of the socialist government in South America's top oil exporter.
Though diplomats say he is easy-going in conversations behind closed doors, in public he can be just as caustic and combative as Chavez, the former soldier who has led Venezuela for the past 14 years.
(Quoting a dirty US Ambassador, who had to leave after supporting the coup against Chavez)
~snip~
"There are simply too many moving pieces," wrote Charles Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela who now heads the San Diego-based Institute of the Americas think tank. "My bet is that a deeply polarized and de-institutionalized Venezuela will be both turbulent and unstable for the foreseeable future."
More:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/1/1/worldupdates/2012-12-31T164547Z_1_BRE8BU09A_RTROPTT_0_UK-VENEZUELA-CHAVEZ-MADURO&sec=Worldupdates