As cancer-stricken Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez remains out of public view in a Caracas hospital, his successor, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, is sounding more and more like his mentor, denouncing the "decadent" opposition and the US "empire".

Maduro, a broad-shouldered former bus driver and union activist with a thick moustache, was once considered a moderate figure who honed his diplomatic skills when he was foreign minister.

Maduro frequently appears on the VTV public channel, handing keys to subsidized homes to families one day, showing off a refurbished hospital the next or driving a bus being donated to university students.

He accused Governor Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October election, of "conspiring" against Venezuela during a weekend trip to the United States and warned that he was being monitored, going as far as giving the address of the New York City apartment when his rival was staying.

"The decadent prince of the parasitic bourgeoisie has gone to Miami and then New York. I challenge him to refute me," Maduro said. Capriles responded with a photo on Twitter showing he was visiting his young nephews.

AFP

(China Daily 03/06/2013 page11)