CNN news 2012-10-11 加文本

cnn news 2012-10-11

The polls are closed, the votes are counted, and we know who will be the next president of Venezuela. Same person who's held that title since 1999, his name is Hugo Chavez. Chavez was reelected over the weekend, he'll serve another 6-year-term as the leader of the Venezuela. He became the youngest president in that country's history when he was first elected back in 1998. This election was the closest for Chavez since he first came into power. There was a huge turnout, election officials in Venezuela say more than 80% of voters went to the polls. Chavez is considered controversial, for example, Venezuela's biggest trading partner is the United States, which Chavez speaks out against the U.S a lot and criticizes American policies. His own policies, especially his economy ones, have raised some questions of their own. Chavez is a firm believer in socialism, that's when the government controls its country's businesses. He wants to use the money that his country makes from oil to pay for social programs. Venezuela is one of the world's biggest oil producers, but 35% of the country's population lives in poverty as Paula Newton shows us things could get worse.

"It doesn't look like the kind of place, that's about to go broke. Venezuela is the biggest producer of crude in the western hemisphere, people here rolled up and filled up for literally pennies a gallon. And as the price of a barrel has increased in the last decade, even poor Venezuelans have shared the wealth. Buying up, moving up, and logging on. Some economists warn this is a country hanging on by a physical threat."

"It really reached the point where the current situation can't continue."

"The problem, the socialist government of Hugo Chavez has been spending and borrowing money at record amounts on everything from building new homes like these behind me, even things like new refrigerator, cheap gas, microwaves, all to give to the poor in the needed of this country."

"But the spending binge using petrol profits and foreign loans could leave Venenuelans worse off in the long run. Inflation is rampant, and the mighty bolivar may have to be brought down to size, in other words, devalued again. And for a country that relies heavily on imports, that would likely fuel more inflation already running at 30%. On the street, they know that means struggling more to buy less.

Paula Newton, cnn, Caracas.