When Tareck El Aissami, Venezuela’s new vice president, competed in student elections, his opponents said he brought in armed gangs to bully the competition. Then, they say, when he forgot to register for re-election he phoned the local political boss with a plan to rig the vote.
“I threatened to throw him in jail,” said Florencio Porras, the former governor of Merida state. “Since then, he’s declared me his enemy.” Climbing from student leader in rural Venezuela to the country’s No. 2 power broker in just over a decade, El Aissami has made many enemies like Porras.
