Control of Socialist Heartland at Stake in Venezuelan Vote
- Ruling party spends big to hold onto birthplace of Hugo Chavez
- Shortages of gasoline and cooking gas infuriated voters
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Venezuela’s government risks humiliation Sunday as voters infuriated by fuel shortages threaten to throw out the ruling party in the hot, cattle-farming region where the father of the nation’s socialist revolution was born.
Barinas state in western Venezuela was the birthplace of former President Hugo Chavez, and has been governed by his family for more than two decades. But that legacy came under threat after a voter rebellion in November nearly ousted the ruling party in the gubernatorial election, before the Supreme Court stepped in to halt the vote count that the opposition candidate was leading.