CARACAS, Venezuela – Just try sleeping in on election day in Venezuela.
In the hilly eastern Caracas slum of Petare, a truck began blaring reveille from loudspeakers before 3 a.m. and a male voice urged people to get up and vote. The man's voice also periodically insulted opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
A few hours later, a man on a motorcycle, his face covered with a red bandana, parked in front of a Petare polling station and sounded his bugle while a comrade yelled "Long Live Chavez!"
President Hugo Chavez faced the tightest re-election of his political career on Sunday after nearly 14 years in power and both sides have worked mightily to get out the vote.