Chávez refuses to debate with Capriles Radonski

President Hugo Chávez on Monday ruled out the possibility of a debate with the presidential candidate of the opposition alliance, Henrique Capriles Radonski.

"It would be like putting Cassius Clay at his strongest to box against Diosdado (Cabello, the president of the National Assembly) at his finest moment," he responded to a reporter.

Chavez participated, via telephone, in the press conference offered by the national directors of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. "Debate...with who?" asked the president, who then added "It would bring me shame to participate in something like that, because the opposition is nothing."

The head of state then confessed that he would have liked to face former presidents Rómulo Betancourt, Rafael Caldera, and Carlos Andrés Pérez, who he defined as "real politicians." He added that Pérez was "a leader who dragged masses, multitudes; a powerful speaker."

Refusing to confront Capriles, Chávez commented that "the real debate" would happen on the country's streets.

All or nothing

The president lambasted his adversaries. "It is a sack full of scorpions and serpents, there is no leadership," he asserted. According to Chávez, his victory is inevitable this coming October 7th. "The difference is no less than 20 points," he added.

Chávez noted that the opposition "makes a crisis out of everything and they are nothing," when questioning Capriles Radonski's platform.

"It's not that they don't have a program, it's just that their program is unpresentable," he said and stressed that the opposition alliance represents a return to a rising development of orimulsion, "which is part of the strategy to decrease the value of our great wealth in the Orinoco oil belt."

Translated by Alejandro Osio