Venezuela Opposition: Military Can’t Take Sides

[Time]

(CARACAS, Venezuela) — Venezuela's presidential campaign on Wednesday veered between warnings of military meddling in the April 14 vote and opposition mirth at the acting president's suggestion that the spirit of Hugo Chavez visited him as "a little bird" while he prayed. Opposition lawmaker Alfonso Marquina presented a complaint to Venezuela's elections council, demanding it sanction officers who have publicly backed Nicolas Maduro, who has been acting president since President Hugo Chavez's death on March 5. Marquina has alleged that Defense Minister Diego Molero and National Guard Gen. Antonio Benavides plan to use military resources to intimidate voters, especially those dependent on government services, to cast ballots for Maduro. Maduro's campaign denies the allegations and there was no immediate comment from the council. But the controversy was almost overshadowed in the press and chatter in the street by Maduro's latest move to draw an almost religious connection to Chavez, whom he served as foreign minister and vice president. Maduro declared on Tuesday that a "little bird" appeared as he was praying alone in a little wooden chapel shortly after Chavez's death. "It sang, and I responded with a song and the bird took flight, circled around once and then flew away, and I felt the spirit and blessings of Commander Hugo Chavez for this battle," said Maduro, who interspersed his remarks with sounds to simulate the flapping of the bird's wings and its whistle. The message, delivered as he visited Chavez's hometown of Sabaneta in southern Venezuela, was intended for a national audience of Chavistas that reveres the late leader. It also fell in line with an electoral strategy in which Maduro repeatedly emphasizes his close ties to Chavez, who tapped him as his chosen successor. But it prompted ridicule among many of his opponents. Many newspapers led their campaign stories Wednesday with Maduro's bird remarks. The satirical website "El Chiguire Bipolar" said the statement was so strange that its own jokes could not compete: "If you laugh, it's not because of us." Images of birds with Chavez's head circulated

Via: TIME GlobalSpin