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Nov. 5, 2006-- Supporters of opposition candidate Manuel Rosales line the streets of Chacao, an upper class area in Caracas, to cheer for the presidential candidate.
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Nov. 5, 2006-- An aerobics class works out in the center of one of Caracas' many malls. High oil prices have flooded the country with cash-- stimulating the country's burgeoning consumer economy.
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Nov. 5, 2006-- An automobile show at one of Caracas' many malls displays the latest import models. Cars are expensive in the country and a waiting list for new cars is a testament the rising income of many citizens as high oil prices have begun to flush the nation with cash.
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Nov. 15, 2006-- A boat show at one of Caracas' many malls caters to the country's upper class. Venezuela under Hugo Chavez. High oil prices have flooded the country with cash--stimulating the country's burgeoning consumer economy.
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Nov. 13, 2006-- Fhandor Quirega, 51, President of the Yaracuy Chapter of FENDECAMERAS, an aggressively anti-Chavez business group, complains that the government is trying to do away with all private property. The rancher owns a 200 acre cattle farm in the west central part of the country.
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They might as well live on a different planet -- or at the least, in Miami. Venezuela's well-heeled upper crust shop in American-style malls and snap up luxury boats and automobiles. They also form the hard-core base of opposition to populist President Hugo Chavez.

March 15, 2008 /
Nathalie Applewhite
In March 2008, The Pulitzer Center partnered with Helium to launch its first round of the Global Issues/Citizen Voices Contest. Find the winning essays here.
December 30, 2006 / Prospect
Guy Taylor
Hugo Chávez's sweeping election win may be read as a simple mandate for the demagogic Venezuelan leader to push on with his plans to transform his country with what he calls "21st-century socialism