Venezuelans Clamor for Billionaire to Save Nation From Calamity
- Lorenzo Mendoza, head of Empresas Polar, appearing in polls
- ‘There’s a political void that could be filled by an outsider’
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With Venezuela starving and its opposition in tatters, disenchanted voters are investing their hopes in a billionaire who gained fame putting food on their tables.
Lorenzo Mendoza, head of Empresas Polar, the nation’s largest privately held company, is increasingly mentioned as the person best suited to end almost two decades of socialist rule that is devolving into ruin. The tycoon has long been regarded as a free-market hero within opposition circles for his feuds with the late president Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, his authoritarian successor. Mendoza’s popularity has surged in recent months amid frustration with a feckless political class and voters’ desperation for a fresh face to fix the worst economic crisis in memory.