Venezuela's young opposition front-runner is all energy as he criss-crosses the South American nation ahead of a February 12 primary likely to make him President Hugo Chavez's challenger in this year's presidential election. Though he has four rivals in the Democratic Unity coalition primary, the 39-year-old state governor is well ahead in polls and already looking forward to matching the socialist president's own pumped-up style in an October 7 duel.
Though himself a center-left politician, Capriles - a lawyer by training with 13 years as a legislator, mayor and now governor of Miranda state - says Chavez's socialism has largely been a disaster for Venezuela despite some gains for the poor. "They call themselves socialists but they are far from modern socialism. This is a completely failed statist model."
From a wealthy family with a cinema chain and other business interests, Capriles professes himself a follower of Brazil's model of free-market economics with a strong social commitment. He wants to build on and improve what he sees as the best of Chavez's 13 years - free healthcare in slums, for example - while gradually rolling back some of the most radical economic policies like currency controls and nationalizations.
Polls show Capriles' own record in office, energetic style, avoidance of confrontational rhetoric, and emphasis on education, employment and security give him the best chance of beating Chavez among the five opposition primary candidates.
For more: Venezuela opposition favourite Henrique Capriles' warms up for Chavez | World | Reuters
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