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Pedro Gonçalves

Hugo Chávez rival pledges seismic shift in foreign policy | World news | guar... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...ez-challenger-election-pledges

Venezuela Henrique Capriles

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 01 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Henrique Capriles, who has gained ground in recent polls, said he would halt arms purchases from Russia, rethink relations with Iran and revise deals to exploit one of the world's biggest recoverable oil resources in the Orinoco belt.
  • Capriles said he would end the Chávez policy of promoting worldwide revolution and focus on Venezuela's needs."The foreign policy of this government is driven by politics – to extend a revolution worldwide. My objective with regards to foreign relations is to benefit all Venezuelans," he said.
  • "We have spent more than $14bn (£8.66bn) on arms purchases from Russia," Capriles said. "I am not going to buy more weapons. I think the policy has been mistaken."
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  • The big question is what would happen to the oil industry in Venezuela, which vies with Saudi Arabia in claiming the biggest proven oil reserves in the world. Until now Russian and Chinese companies have struck the biggest deals for future exploitation. "We have to revise every deal. I think they are agreements that are not functioning," Capriles said.
  • Capriles has said he will continue to work with Beijing – because "everyone deals with China" – but he appeared ready to distance Venezuela from Iran. "How have relations with Iran and Belarus benefited Venezuela? We are interested in countries that have democracies, that respect human rights, that we have an affinity with. What affinity do we have with Iran?"
  • Capriles is the grandson of Jewish émigrés who escaped the Holocaust. He studied law at the Catholic University in Caracas, and says that if he wins the first thing he will do is pay homage to the Virgin Mary in El Valle on the island of Margarita.
  • Capriles, who spent eight months in prison after allegedly trying to break into the Cuban embassy in the days after a 2002 coup attempt against Chávez
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