From the Associated Press:

Moderate leftist prepares to challenge Hugo Chávez

CARACAS - Venezuelan opposition leader and newspaper editor Teodoro Petkoff will launch his presidential bid this week to run against President Hugo Chávez, a campaign organizer said Wednesday.

Petkoff will make the announcement in a pre-taped message to be shown on television Thursday night, the campaign organizer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to act as a spokesman. He said Petkoff will run as an independent and plans a nationwide tour starting this weekend.

The center-left opposition leader was a Cuban-inspired guerrilla in the 1950s and 60s, but later split with the Communist Party. Today, he is one of Chávez's fiercest critics.