* Victims belonged to parties behind opposition's Capriles
* Venezuelans transfixed by close race, fret about trouble
* Chavez, Capriles hit streets with one week to go
CARACAS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and killed two
local leaders of parties backing presidential challenger
Henrique Capriles on Saturday in the worst violence of a
volatile campaign before Venezuela's election next weekend.
Capriles' party, Primero Justicia (First Justice), said the
gunmen fired from a van that witnesses identified as belonging
to state oil company PDVSA or the local mayor's office during a
rally in the agricultural state of Barinas.
The government of President Hugo Chavez, who is seeking
re-election, confirmed the deaths and vowed the perpetrators
would be brought to justice. Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami
said the circumstances of the attack were still under
investigation.
Venezuela is awash with guns, and violent crime is
frequently cited as voters' No. 1 concern.
There had been shootings and fistfights in previous
opposition rallies as "Chavistas" and Capriles supporters
clashed, but no deaths.
"This tragedy gives us more strength and faith to fight for
a Venezuela where justice and non-violence reign," said Primero
Justicia, the party of one of the victims.
Another two people were injured, and there were six arrests
after the attack on an opposition motorcade that had been
blocked by Chavez supporters, Primero Justicia said in an
account not confirmed by police or other authorities.
"I'm so sad at this bad news," Capriles said via Twitter.
The opposition Democratic Unity coalition, which has united
Venezuela's opposition parties, demanded a quick investigation.
Aissami said police were doing just that. "It was an
isolated incident," he told state TV.
CLOSE CAMPAIGN
On the campaign trail, Chavez showed off new infrastructure
projects in Caracas, while Capriles accused him of wasting
Venezuela's money on foreign allies.
With polls inconclusive, both men are wooing undecided
voters in what looks likely to be the tightest presidential
election of the charismatic socialist leader's 14-year rule.
Despite two bouts of cancer since mid-2011, Chavez, 58, has
declared himself completely cured and is trying to recapture
some of his old panache and energy to win a new six-year term.
On Saturday, he inaugurated a monorail, then inspected
extensions to the subway system, and a cable car in poor areas
of Caracas typical of his power base.
The projects cost a combined $2.5 billion.
"We are not thinking about making money. That's the
difference with capitalism," Chavez said in Petare, one of the
largest slums in Latin America.
"The loser will have to go to the moon and see if he can
govern a rock there because here the bourgeoisie are never
coming back," Chavez quipped of Capriles, whom he portrays as
representing a heartless, right-wing elite.
Later, in Guarenas town outside Caracas, the president drove
through crowds in an open vehicle dubbed by some the
"Chavez-mobile." He sang, danced and gave an exuberant speech in
a show of energy few would have expected just months ago when he
was publicly praying to be saved from cancer.
Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor who has a centrist
political vision and sees Brazil's mix of free-market economics
and strong welfare polices as his model, has been crisscrossing
Venezuela all year in an exhausting campaign.
Addressing thousands in Falcon state, in west Venezuela,
Capriles accused Chavez of making false promises to the public,
while squandering oil revenues on foreign allies.
"The government prefers to build a refinery in Nicaragua, or
send oil and worry about power cuts in Cuba, but it doesn't care
about blackouts here in Falcon," he said.
Of the six or so best-known pollsters in Venezuela, a
majority put Chavez ahead, but they also show Capriles creeping
up in recent weeks, and two put him just ahead.
Venezuelans are transfixed by the race, but also nervous of
possible violence if the result is close and disputed.
Foreign investors hope the more business-friendly Capriles
will take over and end a nationalization drive and other radical
policies that have polarized Venezuela like never before and
made Chavez one of the world's most controversial leaders.
Chavez promises to "deepen" socialism if he wins. That will
likely mean continued spending on his popular welfare
"missions," new confrontations with the private sector, and more
support for his leftist allies in the region.
Opposition leaders are angry at Chavez's use of state
resources in his campaign, but say the electronic-based vote
system should be hard to rig on election day, since they will
have their own observers at most voting booths.
* To follow us on Twitter: @ReutersVzla
*(Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth, Deisy Buitrago;
Editing by Peter Cooney)
