Venezuela’s Chavez lashes out at former allies for distancing themselves in election

Chavez: Dissident party has joined opposition

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez lashed out Wednesday at former political allies who have distanced themselves from him, accusing them of joining Venezuela’s opposition ahead of September congressional elections.

Chavez harshly criticized Fatherland For All, a leftist party that had traditionally supported the president’s socialist government, calling its leaders traitors and predicting its candidates will be defeated in the Sept. 26 vote.

“They are allied with the right wing,” Chavez said, speaking to members of his ruling party. “The reformists can stay behind. Here we have true revolutionaries.”

The falling out between Chavez and Fatherland For All began months ago. But the breakup appeared definitive Wednesday after Chavez condemned the party’s decision to not form an alliance with his Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela ahead of the elections.

Chavez also seemed irritated by the party’s criticism of what it called his uncompromising attitude and authoritarian tendencies.

Political analyst Ricardo Sucre said he believes the rupture “could have an impact in some states,” but that candidates fielded by Fatherland For All are not going to receive significant backing from the majority of Chavez’s supporters.

Sucre noted Fatherland For All appears to have gained strength in some regions since Lara state Gov. Henri Falcon broke ranks with Chavez’s party in March and joined its former ally-turned-rival. Falcon is popular in Lara, where he served two consecutive terms as the mayor of the state capital and was elected governor by a comfortable margin in 2008.

Chavez has repeatedly warned his allies that an opposition victory in September’s elections would be a devastating blow to his efforts to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, because adversaries could veto bills proposed by his party.

The president’s supporters currently have an unbeatable majority in the National Assembly after most opposition parties boycotted Venezuela’s last legislative elections in 2005.

The opposition is competing this time, though, and aims to field a single candidate for each seat up for grabs.

Chavez’s antagonistic comments Wednesday came just hours after Fatherland For All presented its candidates.

One of its hopefuls, Margarita Lopez Maya, said the party hopes to win enough seats in the National Assembly to help regain the institution’s independence. She noted the assembly’s majority of pro-Chavez lawmakers has done Chavez’s bidding for years.

“The National Assembly must be a counterweight to the executive branch,” Lopez Maya, a history professor, said in a telephone interview.

The party’s other candidates include former guerrilla leader Rafael Uzcategui, professional basketball player Ricardo Lugo, union leader Jose Bodas and Yoel Acosta Chirinos, a former military officer who joined Chavez in a failed 1992 coup attempt but later split with the president.