Opposition leader wants to debate Venezuela's Maduro [View all]

[naaman fletcher]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE92D0YC20130314?irpc=932

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition leader challenged acting President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday to "stop lying" and have a debate, adding that he was sorry if he had caused offense during the increasingly bitter run-up to an April 14 election.

The death last week of socialist leader Hugo Chavez set the stage for the vote pitting Maduro, his preferred successor, against Henrique Capriles, a 40-year-old centrist state governor.

Capriles has enraged Maduro by accusing him of repeatedly lying about the late president's two-year battle with cancer, and of then cynically using his death as a campaign tool. But he apologized if he had upset Chavez's family.

"Let's debate, Nicolas, the country wants us to. We've got a month to do it. Let's debate the insecurity and the economy ... . The country wants you to stop lying and debate the problems and their solutions," Capriles told a local radio station.