Presidential campaign closes in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez danced in the rain and led his followers in song Thursday, as the former military officer and cancer survivor fights to win an additional six-year term in Sunday’s critical presidential vote.

In the final mass gathering of his campaign, Chavez, 58, warned the crowd that his defeat would bring an end to his popular social programs and leave the oil-rich nation of 30 million in the hands of oligarchs.

“We cannot allow them to demolish Venezuela again,” he said as he stood in the driving rain. “The life of this nation is at stake. The life of the people is in play.”

The rally drew hundreds of thousands of followers from across the country, and was a powerful demonstration of the government’s ability to mobilize the masses. Buses and pickups packed with red-clad supporters began arriving early Thursday, and by the afternoon Chavistas had packed seven of Caracas’ main arteries.

The administration is counting on the same political machinery to get out the vote Sunday in what some are expecting to be one of the closest races of Chavez’s almost 14-year tenure. While most polls give Chavez the lead, a few show him in a dead heat with former Miranda Gov. Henrique Capriles, 40.

With a moratorium on campaigning going into effect at midnight, Capriles spent the day in the western state of Apure, where he vowed to help the poor and bridge the ideological divide.

“Even though the government says it has the power, next Sunday the people will decide who’s president,” he said. Capriles held his own rally in Caracas on Sunday and student supporters marched down a central boulevard Wednesday to take the iconic Venezuela Plaza.

But Thursday belonged to Chavez, as he rode a platform truck to the presidential palace, blowing kisses and pumping his fists amid a surging crowd.

Chavez has undergone at least three surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation in the last 16 months to treat an undisclosed form of cancer that he claims to have beaten. After sticking close to Caracas for most of the campaign, he spent the last few weeks in a flurry of activity, drawing massive crowds to his national rallies. On Thursday, he looked healthy and energetic, playing air guitar at the front of the stage and hopping around in the rain.

While Chavez said he was certain that he would give the “bourgeoisie a beating” at the polls, he asked his followers to wake up at 3 in the morning Sunday “have a coffee or a chocolate” and cast their vote early so that his victory would be assured by noon.

While Chavez’s stump speech was short on details, he pledged that by the end of his six-year term, everyone would have decent housing and a job. He also said he would build 10 new public universities by the end of his tenure.

Capriles has also vowed to keep helping the poor but said the country needs more business-friendly policies.