CAMPAIGN BRIEFING

The Path for Progress that Henrique Capriles Radonski proposes to Venezuela is a path that has been under construction with the participation of all Venezuelans. As a Congressman, Mayor and Governor, Capriles has answered the problems of the people, listened to their proposals and forged unity among the different sectors of the country. It is a new way of politics, based upon public service, without distinction and with equality for all in society. His candidacy for the President of the Republic in October 2012 is the democratic alternative to Chvezs revolution.

This candidacy of 2012 has strengthened and consolidated over time, in response to the growing urgency and demand for political answers from the population. Since the presidential elections in 2006 the oppositions electoral results have been improving, and the Democratic Unity Roundtable (known by its acronym in Spanish as MUD) has grown by receiving support and the participation from diverse sectors of society, which are all fundamental to the future that this country deserves.

Many groups, movements and independent political, student, union and community leaders have joined together with traditional political parties and a big number of former pro-Chvez leaders who felt excluded and disenchanted with the revolutionary process. They have all been very important in order for the democratic alternative to obtain victories and political spaces that did not exist until 2006.

The rejection of the Constitutional Reform that Chvez proposed in 2007, as a radicalization of his revolution, without listening to the citizens or key sectors of the country, represented the first step towards the construction of a new future in Venezuela. Only a year after the re-election of

the President, by over 25 percentage points, and against all the communicational and economic power of the government, with a polarized and repression filled campaign, the Reform was beaten. This was a result of the efforts that the opposition made to explain its dangers, throughout towns and cities in the country.

Since then, the uneven fight has intensified, and the effort to consolidate a different path in the country has been based on the direct contact with the population. In 2008 and 2010, the opposition forces attained important political spaces in municipalities, governorships and the National Assembly. An unimaginable political alliance was created with the Democratic Unity Roundtable, in which ideological differences and previous conflicts were left aside, to defend the alternation of power, democratic freedoms and the progress that Venezuela deserves.

Prior to the Parliamentary Elections of 2010 the democratic alternative began to use primary elections, open to every citizen without distinction, as the mechanism to choose the leaders for this political arena. By 2011, the MUD did not hesitate to use them as the means to elect the presidential candidate. Thus, in 2012, Henrique Capriles Radonskis presidential candidacy was legitimized by a primary process, in which over three million people, despite their distinct political ideologies, overcame fears and threats of the State structure, and gave their vote of confidence to democracy.

With that legitimacy and support, Henrique Capriles Radonski started the final stage of this huge effort to defeat through votes a government that has transcended the legal and constitutional limits, is owner of all the State branches, and has all the economic, communicational, judiciary and political resources of the country. A government that has been focused with continuing in office, and has alienated itself from the reality that the Venezuelan people suffer daily.

That is why Henrique Capriles Radonski has fought the excesses of this distant government, by offering a new way of making politics in which prevails the interest of the people above everything else. Since the beginning of this campaign on July first, he has visited over 300 towns and cities all over the country. During these visits, he has shared with young people,

workers, women, families, professionals and people with disabilities, in their houses, on the streets or in assemblies, and has gotten to know their concerns, suggestions, opinions and willingness to work for the Progress of Venezuela in the future.

The message of Progress arrived to distant and forgotten points of the country, like the indigenous communities near the Brazil frontier, and the Guajira Peninsula in Zulia. Henrique Capriles Radonski rode across the Venezuelan plains, went up the humble barrios of Caracas, and sailed through the rivers and seas all over the national territory. He spoke with oil workers in the eastern states, and with those at the basic industries in Bolvar, he shared with the field workers in Gurico and Apure, with the industrials of Carabobo and Aragua, and he also sent his message to the members of the Armed Forces.

Capriles has earned the confidence of the different sectors of our country, to which he has committed to investing in social programs, multiplying the oil production and reducing imports, in benefit of the national production.

The work of Capriles all over Venezuela has been multiplied by thousands of political, community, student and union leaders, which are a fundamental part of the Progress project for the country - a team project that is being built with the citizens. This has been a fight between David and Goliath, in which, thanks to the effort of every Venezuelan, fear and threats will be overcome, to start walking the path of hope and reconciliation.

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