Hugo Chavez's rival criticises him for crying

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's opposition candidate in next month's presidential elections criticised President Hugo Chavez on Sunday for crying over his loss of freedom during his more than 13 years in power.

Mr Chavez choked up on Saturday in an emotional speech, where he said he has endured personal sacrifices for his political project and remembered bucolic days when he roamed free through Venezuela's countryside.

"If it were up to me I would come down from this stage and would walk again, as I used to before, the streets of San Fernando de Apure," Mr Chavez told a crowd in the cattle-ranching city located in Los Llanos, the sparsely populated plains that spread through most of central Venezuela from the Orinoco River to the Andes.

But Mr Henrique Capriles says Chavez should stop weeping for his lack of free time and instead shed tears for all the Venezuelan mothers who have lost children to violent crime.