Caracas Chronicles

In my latest piece for Foreign Policy, I wrote,

“[Capriles] doesn’t have firm positions on anything other than reconciliation, efficiency, and problem-solving. This means that all the different factions of the opposition have a slightly different idea of him, one they tailor to their own ideological pre-conceptions: He’s a blank slate upon which a heterogeneous opposition projects its values and aspirations.”

I should have probably credited a friend for that idea. See, last week I was privileged to attend a talk by Ramón Guillermo Aveledo (more on the speech itself in a separate post). Aveledo was introduced by said friend, formerly of Gente del Petróleo.

As you can imagine, he and I don’t always see eye to eye. He has long been skeptical about Primero Justicia and Capriles’ message, and I think he voted for Diego Arria – though I can’t be sure.

Regardless, he is now firmly in Capriles’ camp. The phrase in the title comes from him – in fact, it was the way he ended the forum.

I thought it perfectly meshed the message of the intransigent opposition of 2002-2003 – of which the Gente del Petróleo were founding members – with the message of our … its Presidential candidate.

It also highlighted for me what I tried to convey in the article – that by staying above the fray, Capriles has allowed each group in the opposition to imagine him in a different light.

I honestly believe that the “ni un paso atrás” group are enthusiastic about Capriles’ chances, just as much as anyone in the opposition, and that they firmly believe that “hay un camino” means what they think it means.