In the 1980s, various leftists including Andres IVelsquez of the Causa R and MAS' Carlos Tablante gained prominence at the local level. Velasquez, as president of the steelworkers' union in the state of Bolivar, and Tablante, first as a city-council represen- tative and later state deputy in the industrial state of Aragua, established their credentials in struggles around concrete issues and then catapulted onto the national stage. Other MAS leaders emerged first as local muckrakers and nd activists, and subsequently as popular politicians in other states. These up-and- coming figures in MAS were given a boost in the 1988 campaign by the party's presidential candidate Teodoro Petkoff who on the stump reserved a major part of the limelight for the party's congressional candidates. Petkoff, in a departure from MAS' previ- ous campaign policy, went so far as to admit that he had no chance of winning, and urged uncommitted voters to split their ticket in favor of the party's con- gressional candidates. Increasing political diversity has cut heavily into the influence of the AD and Copei party machines in Caracas as well. Following a nationwide trend, the nation's largest city has been carved up into several new municipalities. The district taking in the city's center (which retains the name Caracas) is governed by the Causa R's Arist6bulo Isturiz, who in 1992 upset AD's future presidential candidate Claudio Fermin. Like Ist0riz, other mayors in the Caracas metropolitan area depart from traditional molds and feel no need to be deferential toward the pow- ers-that-be at the national level. One mayor is a national spokesperson of a neighborhood move- ment, whose candidacy was launched by a commu- nity-based electoral group. Another, Irene Sez, a former Miss Universe, is an independent who has multiparty support in her bid for reelection this December. AD did not relinquish its traditional strongholds without dogged resistance. In Bolivar in 1989, and in four states and Caracas three years later, the Causa R and MAS mobilized support on the streets to defend their electoral victories which AD and, in one case, Copei refused to recognize. In the state of Sucre, MAS' gubernatorial candidate Ramon Martinez locked himself in the governor's palace and under the threat of an assault by an AD-orga- nized squad allegedly under the direction of the state police, declared, "the only way they will take me out of here is dead." In the state of Portuguesa, MAS' state organization conceded defeat in order to avoid a bloody showdown between security forces and an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 supporters on the streets. The MAS national leadership, how- ever, overruled its state chapter, and pursued the matter in the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) and then the Supreme Court. MAS leaders challenged election results in three other states as well. Reruns were eventually held in Lara, Sucre, Delta Amacuro and Barinas. In the latter three, MAS was on the winning side. The struggles that leftist candidates had to endure in order to take office set the tone for their three-year terms in office. Relations between tradi- tional power holders and incoming anti-corruption reformers have been tense from the outset. Mutual animosity was particularly pronounced in Bolivar after 1989 when AD threatened to use its two-to- one majority in the state legislature to alter Andres Velasquez' proposed budget and at the same time oust him from the governorship. Never easily intim- idated, the Causa R responded by calling assemblies in localities throughout the state in hopes of gener- ating active support for the party's budgetary allo- cations. Such a response was consistent with the Causa R's concept of participatory democracy, but it was also a political imperative given the recalcitrant opposition of AD and, to a lesser extent, Copei state deputies. Eventually, Velbsquez defied the legisla- ture by putting his original budgetary program into effect and taking the matter to the Supreme Court, which decided in his favor.
