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Arab Venezuelans Divided Over Election to Replace Chávez

As Venezuela goes to the polls Sunday to elect a successor to the late President Hugo Chávez, Ali Hashem examines whether they will they vote to keep the policies of a government that featured a number of Arab Venezuelans.
A couple walks past a wall with graffiti promoting Venezuela's acting President and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro in Caracas April 12, 2013. The late Hugo Chavez's self-declared socialist revolution will be put to the test at a presidential election on Sunday that pits Maduro, his chosen successor against a younger rival promising change in the nation he polarized. The signs on the wall read, "Chavez forever, Maduro President" (top), "Chavez I swear to you, my vote is for Maduro" (bottom L) and "Cha

CARACAS, Venezuela — A fierce battle is being fought in Venezuela. It's not only a battle for the presidency in Sunday’s election, but also a war between supporters of the late Hugo Chávez and those who opposed him.

It is a war over how much the March 5 death of the longtime Venezuelan president has changed the rich-but-poor South American republic. Chavistas backing interim president Nicolás Maduro chant the slogan, “Chávez is still alive, Chávez is Maduro.” Yet the opposition is campaigning with the goal of showing that the post-Chávez era will never be the same.

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