Chavez wins re-election
By Saul Hudson
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - With a cry of “long live the revolution,” anti-U.S. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won re-election in a landslide after his challenger conceded on Sunday.
Chavez, 52, won a strong mandate to press his self-styled socialist revolution in his next six-year term and forge an anti-U.S. front in Latin America to counter what he calls the superpower’s “imperialism.”
Critics, including Washington, who regard Chavez as a threat to regional democracy and stability, fear the Cuba ally will be emboldened to buy arms and influence with an oil bonanza from high prices in the heavyweight OPEC member.
The National Electoral Council said Chavez won 61 percent, while Manuel Rosales, a governor of an oil-producing province who united the opposition, trailed with 38 percent after 78 percent of the vote had been counted.
Dressed in his signature red shirt, Chavez celebrated by raising his right fist and singing the national anthem on a balcony at the presidential palace.
Chavez, who has called President George W. Bush a “donkey,” “drunkard” — and worse — labeled his U.S. counterpart Satan in a speech dedicating his victory to the ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
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