Charismatic Chavez up for another fight
The Venezuelan leader of 14 years needs to scrape every ounce of the people skills that took him to power as he faces his toughest test yet
Wearing a blue windbreaker and dripping sweat, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sang to a massive throng of supporters at a rally, and then dusted off one of his favourite lines: "We're going to knock out the bourgeoisie!"
During his almost 14 years in office, Chavez has earned the right to swagger. He has survived three elections, one coup and one recall attempt. Along the way, the nation rewarded him with the right to run for office indefinitely.
But as voters prepare to cast their ballots in today's crucial election, polls suggest that his rival, former Miranda governor Henrique Capriles, may not fall so easily. While Chavez is leading most surveys, others show him in a dead heat against his 40-year-old rival.
El Comandante has never been one to shy from a fight.
Born in the agricultural heartland of Barinas state, Chavez was a star pupil in the military academy. He rose through the ranks of the army to make commander by 1991. All the while, he was forming a secret society with like-minded cadets called the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement. Founded in the wake of the 1989 Caracazo riots, which left hundreds dead, the movement was bent on overhauling Venezuelan society.
The organisation burst on to the national stage in 1992, when Chavez and other mid-ranking officials tried to oust president Carlos Andres Perez. The coup attempt failed and Chavez agreed to surrender as long as he could do it on national television.