Chávez telephoned leaders of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) from Cuba during a press conference they were staging on 23 April to reveal that the rumours about his death had been greatly exaggerated. He said the rumours were a product of “the laboratory of the dirty war” being waged by the opposition, and urged supporters to get used to them. During his absence, Capriles accused Chávez of “governing by Twitter” after a deluge of some 30 ‘tweets’ from @Chavezcandanga instructing officials on policy. Capriles argued that the country could not be run through Twitter, although it was more than a little ironic that his criticism came in the form of a ‘tweet’. This suggests that political debate has been reduced to Twitter, as Capriles is struggling to get himself heard anywhere else above the oxymoronic clamour of silence over Chávez’s health. Most worryingly for him, he has been unable to build any momentum ahead of the official start of the electoral campaign on 1 July.
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