Nicolas Maduro so far has led by imitation, seeking to fill the shoes of a president whose uncanny vigor, mischievous humor and political wiles sowed a revolution and transformed a nation.
As Hugo Chavez did during his 14-year presidency, Maduro has stoked confrontation, and shed tears.
While steering Venezuela through the trauma of Chavez’s death, Maduro has pinned his move to the top on his beloved predecessor.
Yet there are serious doubts, even among die-hard Chavistas, about his ability to lead the nation.
At his swearing-in Friday evening as acting president in the National Assembly chamber where less than a decade ago he was just another lawmaker, Maduro pledged his “most absolute loyalty” to Chavez.
Then he launched into another fiery, lionization-of-the-masses speech punctuated by tears, Chavez-style harangues and attacks on capitalist elites and the international press.
“This sash belongs to Hugo Chavez,” he said, choked up, after assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello slid the presidential band over his head. Hours earlier at Chavez’s funeral, Maduro delivered a speech similarly strident in content and tone.
Maduro, 50, hasn’t stopped idolizing the outsized leader who made him Venezuela‘s foreign minister, then vice president and, before going to Cuba for a final cancer surgery in December, publicly selected him as the presidential successor.
The National Electoral Council is expected on Saturday to set a date for a special presidential election as early as April.
Filling the leadership void since Chavez disappeared from public view after his surgery, Maduro has verbally sowed conflict and polarization. But many Venezuelans find him bland and uninspiring. Some blame his lack of education, noting the former bus driver never went to college.
Others say it goes much further. After all, Brazil‘s hugely popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, also started out as a union leader.
“Nicolas Maduro does not embody Chavismo. He’s not in touch with the people,” said Carlos Borrola, a 57-year-old member of a “colectivo,” a radical pro-Chavez citizen’s militia.
“You can try to imitate the aggressivity of speech. You can try to imitate the conjuring of imaginary …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News