Above: Henrique Capriles Radonski and Nicolas Maduro

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Venezuela will hold its presidential election April 14, the country’s government announced Saturday afternoon.

The move comes after the death of former President Hugo Chavez last Tuesday from cancer.

The vote will pit Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski against Acting President Nicolas Maduro, who had served as Vice President until Chavez’s death.

Maduro said the country would use the same electoral roll used for the country’s most recent elections, which were held October 7. Chavez won that vote.

Caribbean nations be closely watching the events in their neighbour on the Caribbean sea; the question is whether a victory by either man could potentially mean a new course for the country’s PetroCaribe oil programme, which has provided discounted energy to the vast majority of countries in CARICOM.