Government Supporters March Through Caracas Rain to Mark 14 Years Since Chavez's Final Election Win
CARACAS - Government supporters marched through heavy rain in Caracas on Wednesday, October 7, to mark the 14th anniversary of late President Hugo Chavez's final presidential election victory. Associated Press footage showed marchers carrying banners with Chavez's photograph, waving Venezuelan flags and using umbrellas as water ran along the streets. Chavez won re-election on October 7, 2012, defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles; he died of cancer on March 5, 2013, five months after the vote.
Diosdado Cabello, interior minister and secretary general of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, addressed the rally. He said Chavistas have historically known how to turn defeats into victories, that opponents had assumed Chavez's passing meant the end of the Bolivarian Revolution and had made the same assumption after recent setbacks, and he urged supporters to back 'our sister, President Rodriguez' on every battlefront.
The same day, Caracas city hall published reconstruction progress under the Plan Venezuela Renace: 171 work fronts across the capital's 22 parishes repairing buildings damaged in June's twin earthquakes, with several residential blocks above 90% completion - Mano de Dios at 98.4%, Miravalle at 97% and Elite at 96%. Mayor Carmen Melendez released the figures after a working meeting at the Caracas Command Post.
Street mobilisation and reconstruction reporting on the same day show the Rodriguez government working two narratives during the transition: Chavez's legacy to hold its base together, and visible post-earthquake rebuilding to prove governing capacity. For Caracas residents, the second test is the more concrete one - when their own buildings are ready to move back into.
Sources: Compiled from the Associated Press video report from Caracas on October 7, 2026, and the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN) report the same day on Plan Venezuela Renace progress.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 加拉加斯街头的查韦斯巨幅壁画，David Hernández 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
