CARACAS, Venezuela _ Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles has taken the gloves off.
The governor of Miranda state kept on the high road during most of his political career, including his two unsuccessful runs for president, losing first to Hugo Chavez in 2012, and then in a narrow loss to the current president, Nicolas Maduro, in the 2013 contest succeed Chavez.
In both presidential campaigns, he refused to respond in kind to nonstop, scurrilous insults by Chavez, Maduro and their supporters. Many of the jibes were broadcast on government-controlled news media.
"Those who make insults pay a price ... . People who don't measure their words suffer the consequences," Capriles said in an interview before the October 2012 election. "Venezuelans are tired of the politics of insults and recriminations."
But in recent days, as once-prosperous Venezuela descends deeper into chaos _ with mass protests against food scarcities, rising crime and Maduro's autocratic style _ Capriles has adopted a more radical stance.
In messages sent on social media over the past week, Capriles accused Maduro and his officials of being "corrupt narcos," of "overthrowing democracy," of promoting riots and encouraging looting in his state's capital, Los Teques.
Capriles also said Maduro is "abhorred" by Venezuelans for what he described as "paramilitary" assaults on peaceful protesters. In a Tuesday Twitter post, he seemed to encourage police, the national guard and soldiers to resist the government's orders to restrain protesters.
What has changed? On April 7, the nation's comptroller general disqualified Capriles from running for any public office until 2032, alleging, without offering proof, that he misused public funds as governor. Capriles denied the charges and said his disqualification goes against laws that say only the Supreme Court can make such a judgment against a sitting governor.
Given widespread discontent with the Maduro regime, Capriles stood a good chance in next year's presidential election of beating Maduro or whoever the nominee might be of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which was founded by Chavez and is now headed by Maduro.
Capriles created a sensation in 1997 when he was elected to the National Assembly at age 25. Two years later in 1999, he became Venezuela's equivalent of House speaker. A year after that, he left congress to run for mayor of Caracas' wealthy Baruta borough, winning 63 percent of votes cast.
His ascent continued in 2008, when he won the governorship of Miranda state by outpolling Chavez's chosen candidate, Diosdado Cabello. Capriles has earned a reputation as an effective politician who has delivered to his constituents as assemblyman, mayor and governor.
What his detractors would describe as the biggest stain on his career came during the short-lived 2002 coup against Chavez, who was removed from power by dissident army officers and right-wing business leaders for several days before being restored to office.
During that time, the Cuban Embassy, which was in Capriles' Baruta borough, was attacked and vandalized. The Cuban ambassador was blocked from leaving. Chavez arrested Capriles in connection with the attacks, even though Capriles claimed to have entered the embassy to protect the Cuban ambassador, an account confirmed by the ambassador. Capriles spent four months in jail awaiting a trial that never took place.
Despite the repeated attempts to silence him, Capriles continues to speak out _ now more forcefully than in the past.
Venezuelan analyst Alfredo Maza took note of Capriles' change of tone in a column written for the Spanish newspaper El Pais, saying he has "returned to the street and is using unheard of terms in his discourse."
"He calls the regime a dictatorship. In moments of high emotion, he calls it a narco-dictatorship," Maza wrote. "The intelligence of Capriles has been to wait for just the right moment to put himself in front of the opposition."
On Friday, the U.S. State Department joined other domestic and international critics in condemning the disqualification of Capriles, "the most viable opposition challenger to Maduro ... as a means of keeping him out of elections."
Capriles' disqualification, combined with public reaction to the Supreme Court's decision in late March to shift powers of the National Assembly to Maduro, set off huge protest demonstrations. At least six people died and 200 were injured in clashes between marchers and government forces using tear gas and rubber bullets.
The court, which is aligned with Maduro, quickly backed down and reversed itself April 1 and the National Assembly retains its powers.
For many supporters, Capriles' more aggressive stance is a welcome change from the past when, in the opinion of some activists, he was too passive, especially in comparison with Leopoldo Lopez, another former Caracas borough mayor who in 2014 led nationwide demonstrations demanding that Maduro resign.
Those 2014 marches led to violent clashes in which 46 people died and hundreds more were injured. Lopez was arrested on what supporters say were spurious incitement-to-violence charges and has spent the past three years in jail.
Capriles at the time said he disagreed with Lopez's strategy of trying to force Maduro from office via nationwide demonstrations because it was doomed to failure. "I want to avoid causing frustration for our people when I see that there are [goals] that can't be obtained," Capriles said.
His refusal to join Lopez also marked a split with Maria Corina Machado, a former National Assembly member and opposition leader who also took to the streets to demand that Maduro leave office. She since also has been barred from running for office.
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(Kraul and Mogollon are special correspondents. Kraul reported from Bogota, Colombia.)
