Venezuela's presidential election: Voting in St Hugo's shadow "A VOTE for Maduro is a vote for Chávez," proclaims a banner slung across a veranda in the 23 de Enero housing project overlooking the presidential palace in Caracas. The slogan comes from La Piedrita, one of a dozen or so armed pro-government "collectives" that have carved out territories in the teeming western barrios of the Venezuelan capital. Their endorsement of Nicolás Maduro, Hugo Chávez's long-serving foreign minister and anointed successor, counts for a lot in these dusty streets adorned with revolutionary murals. Loyalty to "the process," as they call Chávez's 14-year rule, is sometimes enforced at gunpoint. But there is undeniable fervour here, too. It is not for the rather uninspiring Mr Maduro, the acting president and chavista candidate in a presidential election on April 14th. Rather it is for the man whose body lies in a glass-topped coffin a hundred metres or so away. The military museum in 23 de Enero served as Chávez's headquarters when as an army officer he led an abortive military coup in 1992. Although he later came to power through the ballot box, he governed like a uniformed autocrat before dying of cancer on March 5th, five months after his third re-election. His body was transferred to the museum, where supporters still come to pay their last respects. Mr Maduro's main rival is Henrique Capriles, who as the opposition's man last October lost to Mr Chávez by 11 percentage points. Mr Capriles, the governor of Miranda state, which includes most of Caracas, is a centrist. In what has been an unusually brief campaign, he has managed to reinject some energy into the opposition, demoralised by its defeat in the presidential vote and in regional elections last year. His closing rally in the capital on April 7th was huge. Mr Capriles insists he will trounce Mr Maduro, despite the more serious opinion polls showing him trailing by at least ten points. He faces familiar obstacles. The electoral authority has once again failed to prevent the chavista campaign's blatant and unconstitutional use of state resources. The chairman of the state oil company, Rafael Ramírez, is head of voter mobilisation for the Maduro campaign. The defence minister, Admiral Diego Molero, says the mission of the armed forces is to "put Maduro in the presidency." It is hard to walk more than a few yards in central Caracas without seeing Chávez's face on posters, some several storeys high, or hearing his voice blasted from loudspeakers. A prominent campaign poster features the dead leader's photograph and signature alongside the phrase, "Maduro, from my heart." It is a quote from his last speech, in which he urged his followers to elect Mr Maduro as his successor. The candidate makes a virtue of having few ideas beyond a pledge to carry out everything that his former boss intended. One new promise is to crack down on crime, a problem Chávez always ignored. This week he said he would raise the minimum wage by up to 45% this year. He tries to imitate Chávez's showmanship, playing a guitar and singing during rallies. He launches similar tirades, blaming crime on "capitalist values" and past governments. Chronic blackouts, he says, are the result of opposition sabotage; he has deployed the army to protect power stations. The government campaign has strayed well beyond hero-worship towards deification. For years, Chávez's most fervent supporters claimed he was "sent by God" to help the poor, pointing to his social "missions" that provide subsidised goods and services. Now it is official: Chávez is "the Christ of America" who "gave his life for each one of us," according to Mr Maduro. So close is he to God that he helped to ensure the election of a Latin American pope, which occurred shortly after he died. The candidate even said, without apparent irony, that the dead president appeared to him in the form of a little bird and that they sang to each other. Opposite the military museum now stands a small shrine, erected with public funds, to "Saint Hugo of the 23 de Enero." Other parishes are putting up similar memorials. We don't want him beatified, but people do pray to him. He must be close to God, because of all his good works," says Eva García, who takes turns to look after the flowers, the candles and the bust of Chávez. Around her neck is a rosary, in revolutionary red, featuring a photo of the late president in place of the Virgin Mary. The Catholic church is not amused. "Chávez is a human being, like all of us," said the archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa. Chávez can't be compared to Christ. The government is unrepentant. Mr Maduro, a long-standing Marxist-Leninist, even refers to April 14th as "resurrection day." That it is the anniversary of Chávez's return to power after he was briefly overthrown in a 2002 coup helps drive the point home. In his campaign Mr Capriles has stressed that "Maduro isn't Chávez." In contrast to his avoidance last year of direct confrontation with the late president, this time he has mocked his opponent, scorning him as a lightweight. He points out that Mr Maduro's acting presidency has seen a big devaluation, the rising scarcity of basic goods, a continuing increase in violent crime and lengthy power cuts. Mr Capriles promises that, if elected, he would end corruption and political discrimination. He also says he would expel Cuban officers from the armed forces. Mr Maduro's close ties to Cuba's leaders, who appeared to broker his installation as acting president, grate with some Venezuelans. Mr Maduro may also be hurt by the economy. Inflation in March alone was 2.8%, suggesting that the annual rate will top 30% by the end of 2013. "This will be a year of lean cows," said Miguel, a mechanic who plans to vote for Mr Capriles. And they're going to be very lean. Much will hinge on whether loyalty to the late president's cause is enough to overcome the doubts many chavistas harbour as to the competence of their new leader and the integrity of his aides. "I believe in the honesty and sincerity of Maduro," says Carlos Cordero, a former special-forces sergeant who endured a nine-hour bus ride from the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz to say farewell to Chávez, "but not that of the people around him." Mr Maduro may find that winning the election is easier than governing.