CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez returns to Cuba yesterday for more surgery after a recurrence of cancer led him to name a successor for the first time in case the disease ends his 14-year dominance of the Opec nation.
Supporters gathered in squares across the South American country, shocked and saddened by the news from the 58-year-old socialist leader, who made the announcement in a late-night broadcast on Saturday from the presidential palace.
In his first public acknowledgement that cancer may cut his tumultuous years in power, Chavez said Vice President Nicolas Maduro would take over if he is incapacitated, and urged supporters to vote for him if an election is held. “It is absolutely necessary, absolutely essential, that I undergo a new surgical intervention,” the president said in his speech, flanked by ashen-faced ministers. “With God’s will, like on the previous occasions, we will come out victorious.”
His departure from office, either before or after the scheduled January 10 start of his new term, would trigger an election within 30 days. It would mark the end of an era for the Latin American left, depriving them of one of their most acerbic voices and Washington’s main irritant in the region.
A clutch of Latin American and Caribbean neighbours, from Cuba and Nicaragua to Bolivia and Ecuador, depend on Chavez’s oil-fuelled generosity to bolster their fragile economies. An unruly transition from Chavez’s highly centralised rule could also raise the specter of political instability in Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves.
Allies lack his famous charisma and may struggle to control his unwieldy coalition of military and leftist leaders.
Among them, though, Maduro - a 50-year-old, mustachioed former bus driver and union leader - is widely viewed as the most popular among Venezuelans thanks to his affable manner, humble background and close relationship with Chavez.
Speculation about Chavez’s health had grown during a three-week absence from public view that culminated in his latest trip for medical tests in Cuba - where he has undergone three cancer operations and had two tumors removed since June 2011.
He returned to Venezuela on Friday after those tests, and is due to have the operation in Cuba in the next few days. Venezuela’s National Assembly was to hold a special session to formally approve his trip.
Chavez said he had rejected the advice of his medical team to have the surgery sooner, on Friday or this weekend, telling them he needed to fly back to Venezuela to seek that permission.
“I decided to come, making an additional effort, in truth, because the pain is not insignificant,” Chavez said in a televised address also shown live in Cuba.
The president’s return to Cuba may mark the start of another lengthy period of silence from government officials, combined with furious rumors over what political changes might be in store and what Chavez’s actual condition is.
He has never said what type of cancer he has, though when initially diagnosed in mid-2011 the government said Chavez’s problem was in the pelvic area.
Opposition leaders wished Chavez well, but criticised him for excessive secrecy and not using local healthcare. “A president should be treated in his country. We have the best equipment and doctors here. But we respect the fact he will be in Cuba,” one leader, Julio Borges, told local media. He criticised Chavez for declaring himself cured prior to the election campaign then admitting he had been unwell after winning: “We have the right to demand to be told the truth.”
The shock on the faces of Cabinet ministers during Saturday’s late-night broadcast signaled uncertainty over who will hold the reins absent Chavez, even in the top echelons of power.
Chavez has been receiving treatment at Havana’s Cimeq hospital as a guest of his close friend and political mentor, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He is guaranteed tight security and privacy on the communist-led Caribbean island. ReutersCARACAS: Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez returns to Cuba yesterday for more surgery after a recurrence of cancer led him to name a successor for the first time in case the disease ends his 14-year dominance of the Opec nation.
Supporters gathered in squares across the South American country, shocked and saddened by the news from the 58-year-old socialist leader, who made the announcement in a late-night broadcast on Saturday from the presidential palace.
In his first public acknowledgement that cancer may cut his tumultuous years in power, Chavez said Vice President Nicolas Maduro would take over if he is incapacitated, and urged supporters to vote for him if an election is held. “It is absolutely necessary, absolutely essential, that I undergo a new surgical intervention,” the president said in his speech, flanked by ashen-faced ministers. “With God’s will, like on the previous occasions, we will come out victorious.”
His departure from office, either before or after the scheduled January 10 start of his new term, would trigger an election within 30 days. It would mark the end of an era for the Latin American left, depriving them of one of their most acerbic voices and Washington’s main irritant in the region.
A clutch of Latin American and Caribbean neighbours, from Cuba and Nicaragua to Bolivia and Ecuador, depend on Chavez’s oil-fuelled generosity to bolster their fragile economies. An unruly transition from Chavez’s highly centralised rule could also raise the specter of political instability in Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves.
Allies lack his famous charisma and may struggle to control his unwieldy coalition of military and leftist leaders.
Among them, though, Maduro - a 50-year-old, mustachioed former bus driver and union leader - is widely viewed as the most popular among Venezuelans thanks to his affable manner, humble background and close relationship with Chavez.
Speculation about Chavez’s health had grown during a three-week absence from public view that culminated in his latest trip for medical tests in Cuba - where he has undergone three cancer operations and had two tumors removed since June 2011.
He returned to Venezuela on Friday after those tests, and is due to have the operation in Cuba in the next few days. Venezuela’s National Assembly was to hold a special session to formally approve his trip.
Chavez said he had rejected the advice of his medical team to have the surgery sooner, on Friday or this weekend, telling them he needed to fly back to Venezuela to seek that permission.
“I decided to come, making an additional effort, in truth, because the pain is not insignificant,” Chavez said in a televised address also shown live in Cuba.
The president’s return to Cuba may mark the start of another lengthy period of silence from government officials, combined with furious rumors over what political changes might be in store and what Chavez’s actual condition is.
He has never said what type of cancer he has, though when initially diagnosed in mid-2011 the government said Chavez’s problem was in the pelvic area.
Opposition leaders wished Chavez well, but criticised him for excessive secrecy and not using local healthcare. “A president should be treated in his country. We have the best equipment and doctors here. But we respect the fact he will be in Cuba,” one leader, Julio Borges, told local media. He criticised Chavez for declaring himself cured prior to the election campaign then admitting he had been unwell after winning: “We have the right to demand to be told the truth.”
The shock on the faces of Cabinet ministers during Saturday’s late-night broadcast signaled uncertainty over who will hold the reins absent Chavez, even in the top echelons of power.
Chavez has been receiving treatment at Havana’s Cimeq hospital as a guest of his close friend and political mentor, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He is guaranteed tight security and privacy on the communist-led Caribbean island. reuters
