CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez accused political opponents eyeing a 2012 election battle yesterday of wanting to reverse social policies in Venezuela’s slums and rid the nation of Cubans who promote his self-styled “revolution.”
The accusation is potentially damaging to the opposition given Chavez’s socialist “barrio” projects — like free healthcare and schooling plus subsidized food — have underpinned his popularity in the South American OPEC member.
Most opposition leaders have, in fact, pledged to keep the best of Chavez’s social policies. But he knows that raising the specter of losing them will strike fear into the poor.
“It’s a lie that the bourgeoise will continue the missions if they win,” Chavez said, using his usual class-based language to dismiss all foes as representatives of a rich elite.
“They will destroy them. They will get rid of the Cubans and they will privatize health again,” he added in a telephone call to state TV yesterday.
Thousands of doctors from Cuba, whose government is closely allied with the Venezuelan leader, have staffed Chavez’s flagship “Mision Barrio Adentro” (Inside the Slum) to provide free medical attention in poor areas.
They are among more than 40,000 Cubans working with the Chavez government as everything from sports trainers to intelligence and military advisers.
Venezuela sends cheap oil to Cuba in exchange.
While the success of Barrio Adentro has been tarnished of late, with some clinics empty and in disrepair, it remains massively popular among the poor majority.
OPPOSITION CONTEST
“I’m not afraid to say Chavez has had some successes,” opposition presidential hopeful Henrique Capriles Radonski said recently, adding he would be “mad” to end the slum projects.
“But given the billions and billions they have received from oil, imagine what they could really have done if they had spent it efficiently?” he told Reuters.
Opposition hopefuls like Capriles, who will contest a primary in February for a united ticket against Chavez, are trying to avoid direct attacks on him given his antagonistic style, ill health and deep connection with the poor.
Yet Chavez, despite still recovering from cancer surgery and chemotherapy, is stepping up his rhetoric against what he terms U.S.-backed opponents with less than a year to go until the Oct. 7, 2012 presidential poll.
