CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles kicked a top aide off his campaign yesterday after vague corruption accusations by government leaders, potentially harming his bid to unseat socialist President Hugo Chavez.
Pro-Chavez legislators showed a grainy video of the aide receiving an envelope that they said contained cash that could be used to finance the opposition’s campaign or to pay bribes.
The incident threatens to link Capriles with the OPEC nation’s decades-long tradition of bribery and embezzlement of oil revenue just three weeks before the Oct 7 election.
It comes a day after several people were hurt when supporters of both sides fought and threw rocks ahead of a campaign stop by Capriles, heating up a campaign already marred by sporadic clashes and virulent insults.
“He is out the campaign … I will not allow anyone to use my name for personal benefit,” Capriles said of Juan Carlos Caldera, an opposition legislator who had been the Capriles team’s liaison to the electoral authority.
“This is what has destroyed (this country’s) politics.”
Caldera did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment. But an opposition official said Caldera would step aside while it “investigates and clears up” the issue.
The edited video first showed Caldera speaking to a person whose voice was distorted and face obscured on the screen.
Caldera was seen receiving an envelope from the person, who asked him to set up a meeting with Capriles. The legislator was later seen placing cash into a larger envelope.
Vice President Elias Jaua quickly weighed in via his Twitter account: “The #corruptloser Capriles told Juan Carlos Caldera to go get his cash.”
Chavez leads the majority of the best-known polls, but they are notoriously controversial and divergent in Venezuela. One major firm has Capriles ahead.
The youthful former state governor has hoped to tap into public anger over alleged corruption by state officials. Chavez’s critics and some of his disaffected supporters complain of seeing low-paid government officials driving fancy SUVs or taking lavish vacations.
In one famous 2007 incident, a business leader flying with Chavez to Argentina was stopped at an airport carrying a briefcase with nearly $1 million in cash.
The new allegations mostly overshadowed accusations by a judge formerly allied with Chavez who wrote a letter made public on Thursday that gave a detailed account of how he was ordered to rig the trials of the president’s adversaries.
