MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maradona joins the Venezuelan campaign in support of Chavism and Maduro

The former Argentine football star was an admirer and close friend of Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan incumbent presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro’s closing campaign rally will have a special guest on Thursday with football legend Argentine Diego Maradona giving a celebrity boost to the colourful presidential elections that will test Hugo Chavez’s populist legacy.

The former star player Maradona, an avowed supporter of Latin American so called ‘pink tide’ leaders, including Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Chávez, arrived in Caracas to back Maduro’s final path to Sunday’s voting process.

Meanwhile, Argentine-Venezuelan singer Ricardo Montaner showed up at opposition candidate Henrique Caprile’s rally in the city of Maracaibo on Wednesday in support of the challenger.

Most opinion polls give acting President Nicolás Maduro a strong lead thanks to Chavez's endorsement and the surge of grief and sympathy over his death from cancer last month.

In related news Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman and his Venezuelan counterpart Elías Jaua rejected comments made by Venezuelan presidential candidate Capriles over an alleged hefty financial debt that the Argentine government has with that country.

“None of that makes any sense,” said Timerman, while Jaua stated that the bilateral agreements were “legitimate and sovereign.”

The opposition candidate, who lost last year’s election to late president Hugo Chávez and is now running against Maduro said during a televised interview that Argentina owes 13 billion dollars to Venezuela, and put the blame of the economic crisis on these “gifts,” as an “inefficient” way of managing resources.

When asked about these statements, Timerman replied: “This only shows Capriles’ ability to confuse people, because none of what he says makes sense.”

“The Bolivarian revolution will prevail, and our agreements with Argentina were legitimate and sovereign. We will not return to the past, the right-wing party that that candidate represents used to sell oil to the United States for five dollars. Never again!” Jaua said emphatically.

Both diplomatic officials met on Wednesday yesterday for lunch at the Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires.

During his first visit to the country as Foreign minister, Jaua confirmed his government’s intention to “deepen relations with Argentina,” adding that Maduro’s administration will help with the recovery of the YPF oil refinery that caught fire during last week’s storm in La Plata.

“Maduro wishes to send his condolences to all the victims of the floods,” said Jaua.

Presidential elections in Venezuela are scheduled to take place on Sunday after Chávez died on March 5. Chávez was a key ally of the Argentine government since Néstor Kirchner took office in 2003.