海角大神

The dueling campaigns of President Hugo Ch谩vez and challenger Henrique Capriles Radonski聽have led the candidates to every corner of Venezuela; in President Ch谩vez's case even the basketball court.

罢丑别听Otra Beta聽campaign, a grassroots art movement, has given the 58-year-old incumbent and his trademark red fatigues a fresh look for Election Day. Beyond rallies and motorcades, Ch谩vez dunks, Ch谩vez boxes, and Ch谩vez raps in murals across Caracas. Ch谩vez is聽otra beta.

"Beta聽is a word said in the聽barrios,聽the working class neighborhoods," says Carlos Zerpa, director of the art collective聽Erejcito Liberacion Comunicional, which designed a spray-painted image of聽El Comandante Ch谩vez聽rapping in the Sabana Grande and Petare neighborhoods of Caracas. "[Beta] is an idea, a thing, something different," Mr. Zerpa says.

What鈥檚 largely different about Otra Beta鈥檚 approach is who it targets: Venezuelan youth. There are close to 2 million newly registered voters in Venezuela since its last parliamentary election in 2010, the majority of which are first time voters between the ages of 18 and 20, according to 脕ngel 脕lvarez, a data analyst and political science professor at Universidad Central de Venezuela.

"[The youth vote] is incredibly important in this election," says Mr. 脕lvarez.

The president depicted doing wheelies on a motorcycle certainly isn't typical, but campaigns elsewhere, such as 鈥�Rock the Vote鈥� in the US, have used musicians and artists to inspire young voters.聽Otra Beta聽focuses on urban youth, primarily in poor Caracas suburbs, encouraging them to vote for Ch谩vez to improve their quality of life.

The campaign slogan reads, "With Ch谩vez, otra beta is possible."

What's possible?

Otra Beta was created last year by a consortium of art collectives called Redada.

"We wanted to create an image that鈥檚聽颁丑谩惫颈蝉迟补听(pro government), but not so [typical]聽颁丑谩惫颈蝉迟补," says Iskra Moreno, whose collective,聽Alpargatas Rebeldes, forms part of Redada. We wanted "to show you don't have to wear a red shirt, or work for the government to support Ch谩vez," Ms. Moreno says.聽

The campaign hosts rap concerts, art workshops, basketball games, even motorcycle-wheelie contests to celebrate urban culture and the Ch谩vez presidency.

Miguel 'Sico' Arena, an organizer, explains, "We work to show what's possible through the revolution."

Young votes

Since the massive student protests in 2007 over the closure of RCTV, one of Venezuela's most popular private television stations, and the proposed constitutional reform that would have abolished term limits among other sweeping changes, Venezuelan youth have played a prominent role in politics says Pedro Ben铆tez, a historian and an economics professor at Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), and public policy coordinator for the opposition party MUD.

In his closing campaign speech on Thursday, Ch谩vez acknowledged errors in his presidency, and assured his supporters that he "would not fail Venezuela鈥檚 youth" if reelected.

"Capriles' age [40] and personality 鈥� helps him connect with youth,鈥� says Mr. Ben铆tez. "It鈥檚 similar to what happened when Ch谩vez first ran in 1998, at 43, after the presidency of Carlos Andr茅s P茅rez," says Ben铆tez. 聽

Former President P茅rez, who still lingered in the minds of Venezuelans after his impeachment, was nearing his 70s and spent over nine years in office by the time Ch谩vez first campaigned for president.

Mr. Arena, who goes by Sico, and other聽Beta聽campaigners clarify, however, that they are not trying to make the president 鈥� who after almost 14 years in office is seeking another six year term 鈥� come off younger than he is.

"The media says that we're trying to rejuvenate Ch谩vez, we're not," says Sico.聽"We're showing that all youth support Ch谩vez: the hair dresser, the metro sexual鈥�."

Sico says, "We show that all of us [Venezuelan youth] can bring about the revolution."