Capriles confident of win over Venezuela's Chavez

Henrique Capriles, the presidential candidate for Venezuela's unified opposition, says he is confident he will defeat incumbent Hugo Chavez in October, predicting a 10-point margin of victory. In an interview with AFP, the 39-year-old Capriles sought to portray himself as a go-getter who has what it takes to tackle what he says are the country's three main problems -- poverty, unemployment and violence. "I can't compete with Chavez on speech-making," Capriles said. "I'm not a big talker. I'm a man of action." The youthful Capriles, who has the build of a marathon runner and the looks of a telenovela star, stands in sharp contrast with the 57-year-old Chavez, the country's cancer-stricken leader, who came to power in 1999. The two will face off October 7 in an election that could return Chavez to office after two cancer surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy in the past year. If the firebrand leftist leader and ferocious critic of the United States were to be re-elected and serve out his term, he would end up spending 20 years in power. With less than four months to go before Venezuelans head to the polls, the dialogue between the presidential contenders has been frosty at best. Earlier this week, Chavez scoffed at the idea of a debate with Capriles, dismissing him as unworthy. He has also called him a "silly boy" and a "pig." "How can someone who does nothing but threaten, insult and denigrate participate in a formal debate with rules?" countered Capriles. While being careful not to address Chavez's deteriorating health, the center-left candidate instead took a jab at Chavez's frequent television appearances in past years. "Everything I do is aimed at understanding the issues on the ground in Venezuela's various regions, in its villages," he said, adding he preferred face-to-face contact with voters. The government, meanwhile, was "on television," he added. While most opinion polls currently put Chavez firmly in the lead, Capriles is counting on undecided voters -- currently estimated at 35 percent -- to help him win. "I think we can open up a gap," he said. "I believe we are going to end up with a 10-point margin of victory -- in our favor." While acknowledging he faces a task of "titanic" proportions, Capriles underscored that his goal is to "seize this historic opportunity to put Venezuela on the right track." "The difference is this: as opposed to a model in which the state controls everything, we believe in a model where we can combine the state and private initiatives and (thereby) permit the poorest to find jobs and stop depending on state resources," he added. Capriles said he would review Venezuela's alliance with Iran, and would stop "distributing the money of Venezuelans" to Cuba -- an allusion to the sale of oil at cut rates to the Communist-ruled island, a key Chavez ally. Venezuela -- a member of OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries -- relies heavily on oil as a source of revenue, but sends 100,000 barrels of heavily subsidized crude to Cuba every day.