What does Henrique Capriles want for Venezuela?

What does Henrique Capriles want for Venezuela?
ReutersReuters

CARACAS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition

presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, defines himself as a

center-left "progressive" follower of the business-friendly but

socially conscious Brazilian economic model.

He faces President Hugo Chavez in an Oct. 7 election.

Here are some of his main policy positions:

OIL

* Capriles denies the opposition wants to privatize state

oil company PDVSA as some "Chavista" officials allege. He

insists the vast energy enterprise will remain in government

hands if he wins. He has, however, vowed that PDVSA will be

"de-politicized," starting with the removal of its president and

current energy minister, Rafael Ramirez. Rank-and-file workers

need not fear for their jobs, Capriles has said, despite their

overwhelming allegiance to Chavez.

* Like the government, Capriles wants the OPEC nation to

hike oil production to fund development. But beyond talking

about wooing more foreign investment and accelerating projects

in the huge Orinoco Belt, he is vague about how to achieve that.

He frequently cites Norway as an example of a country that has

used its oil riches properly to diversify the economy.

* Capriles opposes Chavez's decision to pull Venezuela out

of the World Bank's ICSID arbitration court, where U.S. oil

giants Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips are

seeking billions of dollars in compensation for 2007

nationalizations.

* Capriles says he would not immediately raise the price of

gasoline, which for years has been the cheapest in the world due

to big government subsidies. The subject is a touchy one for

Venezuelans who remember deadly riots over price hikes in 1989.

Capriles has said he would start a debate about the issue with

an eye to eventually increasing fuel costs.

NATIONALIZATIONS

* Capriles opposes more nationalizations but says sweeping

takeovers carried out by the Chavez government since 1999 cannot

be undone overnight. Rather, he has said that each of the

hundreds of nationalized companies and projects should be

studied case by case to see if there is justification for

returning businesses to private hands, or for setting up some

form of joint ownership with workers.

* Development of the economy, Capriles says, can only be

done when the fear of nationalizations has gone. He cites the

failure to develop tourism - despite Venezuela's extraordinary

natural beauty from the Caribbean coast and Amazon jungle to the

Andean mountains - as a classic example of the deterrent effect

of takeovers. "No one here even wants to build a hostel for

tourists ... The owners are scared that a minister will go one

day, and he won't like the coffee, and they'll be expropriated."

CURRENCY

* Capriles says the two-tier currency controls in existence

- three-tier if the black market is included - have not achieved

their aim of slowing inflation or preventing capital flight.

Their removal, however, cannot be rapid and depends on the

creation of investor confidence and economic stability under a

post-Chavez government, he says.

* All pre-Chavez and Chavez-era debt, whether in local

bolivars or foreign currency, would be respected, Capriles says,

even though he criticizes the current government for borrowing

far more than he says the country needs.

SOCIAL POLICIES

* While most opposition candidates say crime is Venezuela's

main problem, Capriles has made education his flagship policy,

pointing to a strong record of opening new schools in Miranda

state, where he is governor. " P roper education is the long-term

solution to our crime phenomenon," he said.

* He does, however, also lambast the government's failure to

stem a level of violent crime that terrifies Venezuelans and

visitors alike, with s t atistics on a par with some war zones.

"The central government has delivered 18 security plans - all of

them have failed. Pure politicking," he says.

* He applauds Chavez's commitment to building clinics and

schools in low-income areas and offering free services, but says

the programs have been chaotically and often corruptly

administered. He proposes keeping the best of Chavez's

much-vaunted "Missions" for the poor, while administering them

better to ensure they really benefit the most needy.

* Capriles's camp plans to eliminate some off-budget funds,

used to finance projects ranging from weapons purchases to

building irrigation systems, and bring greater transparency to

government finances.

* He promises to create 500,000 new jobs a year.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

* Capriles vows to prioritize relationships with countries

in the Americas and "democratic" nations, as opposed to Chavez's

ties with politically allied governments, m a ny of which are far

away and have questionable rights records, such as Iran and

Belarus.

* China, however, will remain an essential partner of

Venezuela, he says. "No one in the world can do without China."

* Capriles sees no need to cut relations with Cuba, where

Chavez has had a particularly close relationship with the

communist-led government, but he says ties must be put on a

transparent footing. He has implied that the thousands of Cubans

in Venezuela - from shantytown doctors to intelligence and

security advisers - should be replaced by Venezuelans, and he

has said the country should revise its agreement to supply oil

to Cuba on preferential terms. "We will not give away oil to

anyone, but neither will we stop selling to anyone."

ARMED FORCES

* Capriles has been guarded on the delicate topic of

Venezuela's armed forces. Chavez is a former soldier and has

packed the senior ranks with his supporters, especially after a

brief, military-led coup against him in 2002.

* Capriles says most soldiers simply want a stable,

democratic Venezuela, and he believes the armed forces will

stand by the result of the Oct. 7 vote, whichever way it goes.

(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Kieran Murray and

Claudia Parsons)

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