Hugo Chavez's Mystery Health Problem A Worry.

[Peter Lemkin]

Power vacuum in Venezuela
Venezuela''s President Hugo Chávez.

By Carolina Barros, Herald staff.
There's no such thing as "Chavism" without Hugo Chávez. That's the conclusion which emerges from a 20-day power vacuum in Venezuela with an ailing Chávez stuck in Havana, a dearth of medical bulletins and a storm of rumours as to his critical state of health in their place. And with no heir on the horizon.

In this crisis, nobody has picked up the baton at government house in Miraflores. Least of all his nominal backup Vice-President Elias Jaua, who responded with a resounding "no" when Congress wished to place him at the helm in a caretaker capacity. An expectant administration is frozen not a single member of the Venezuelan government dares to step up and assume power and responsibility, petrified by the track record of vendettas and counter-attacks from the "comandante" every time one of his cadres showed their heads above the surface. Just ask Diosdado Cabello and Jesús Urdaneta if at one time they fancied themselves close to the top, Chávez snatched away that dream before they could get too big for their boots.

Meanwhile much can be read into the fact that it was Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro who gave the most official (and indeed officious) of all the "bulletins" issued so far by the hospitalized Chávez administration.

"The battle which President Chávez is fighting for his health has to be everybody's battle, a battle for life and the immediate future of our Fatherland," said Maduro.

Apart from the medical bulletin of "gravely ill" transmitted by the foreign minister (who has been pressed into service as a presidential spokesman travelling to and fro to see Chávez in Cuba), sources attached to the Caracas administration have told the Herald that military top brass are closing ranks as never before around the ailing comandante. And that Maduro and Energy Minister Rafael Ramírez (also the president of PDVSA state oil company) are this reinforced Pretorian guard's two spearheads within the government.

Another key nugget of information the Military Hospital in Caracas is preparing for the strongman's arrival. For a couple of days now it has not been taking in any patients and has suspended public visiting hours in order to revamp the presidential suite. Around noon yesterday the rumour began to spread that Chávez would be arriving from Havana this coming Thursday in order to be safely installed in the Caracas hospital in time for national day festivities on July 5 the following Thursday. What is open to doubt is whether the ailing president will have the strength to preside his latest international creation the First Latin American and Caribbean Summit due to be inaugurated that same Thursday (July 5) on Margarita island. All the presidents and foreign ministers of Latin America are being invited to this forum a kind of Organization of American States (OAS) without the United States or an anti-OAS, so to speak. But the uncertainty is such that the delegations are reserving their accommodation and transport for both Margarita and Caracas while expecting last-minute cancellation of the event at the same time.

Yet another nugget three days ago an aeroplane of the Bolivarian Air Force crossed over to Cuba carrying Rosinés, the favourite daughter of Hugo Chávez, along with his mother and his ex-wife Marisabel Rodríguez to be at the sick-bed. This unofficial information contributes yet further to the scenario of a gravely ill Venezuelan president.

Finally, all the various rumours that he has a terminal prostate condition which is difficult or impossible to access for surgical removal or that he is suffering from cancer of the colon or an aggravated septicaemia are speculation which could be banished by a simple medical bulletin from a professional source. What cannot be hidden is the reality. During over 12 years of government Chávez has been absent from Venezuela for more than 20 days at a time on international tours on various occasions. But every time he ruled from the airways via national broadcast transmissions.

This is the first time, with Chávez hors de combat, that Venezuela faces a silent battle against a power vacuum. A battle which freezes up over the questions concerning the succession and whether his apparently shopworn movement has a future. Meanwhile a divided opposition is also seized up while the Armed Forces, lined up behind their commander-in-chief Lieutenant-Colonel Hugo Chávez, is also motionless. For now.

[Magda Hassan]

Which brings us back to this.
:nurse:

[Peter Lemkin]

Which brings us back to this.
:nurse:

Yes, not enough details to really say, but my first response was this was a black op against him. I hope he pulls through. It sounds to me he is in VERY serious condition. Interesting that they waited until he was in Cuba to have 'it' manifest itself :mexican:

I just checked and Granma is not even mentioning it. The Venezuelan government seems reluctant to tell any details. I suspect an assassination attempt and hope it fails. No doubt some very exotic poison or tampering with his body.

[Magda Hassan]

Cuba is probably the best place for him to be treated as they are well set up for this sort of thing. The US have been bombarding them with biological weapons for decades and they are constantly testing for new things and creating the antidotes/vaccines etc., so they've become by necessity advanced in biotechnology.

[Peter Lemkin]

Cuba is probably the best place for him to be treated as they are well set up for this sort of thing. The US have been bombarding them with biological weapons for decades and they are constantly testing for new things and creating the antidotes/vaccines etc., so they've become by necessity advanced in biotechnology.

Magda, You are correct. Probably only Israel, UK, Russia and US have equal facility in dealing with what they have often created hock: However, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he didn't become sick on his tour until he got to Cuba...it was that I was referring to....a hidden signal that they disapproved of him and that island we have long tried to put back into bondage. :mexican: Two birds, one shot...sort of.

[Charles Drago]

I'm confident that my deep politics credentials are such that I can speculate as follows without fear of misunderstanding:

This just as easily could be a masterful set-up by Chavez and/or all who stand to gain from his presence on the scene to stage a "miraculous" recovery and then provide "proof" of an assassination attempt.

Let us be ever vigilant against the onset of ideology-induced blindness, especially of the sort that diminishes our peripheral vision to the extent that our view of the full breadth of deep political possibilities is narrowed to a dangerous tunnel-like perspective.

[Magda Hassan]

Or it could be some one has infiltrated high up in the Cuban/Venezuelan inner circles to sew seeds of doubt and mistrust between the two.

[Keith Millea]

I'm guessing prostrate cancer.........

Published on Friday, July 1, 2011 by the Irish Times

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez Reveals He Has Cancer

The head of the Venezuelan army has said there is no threat to the country's constitutional order following president Hugo Chavez's revelation that he is fighting cancer after having a tumour removed in Cuba.



The head of the Venezuelan army has said there is no threat to the country's constitutional order following president Hugo Chavez's revelation that he is fighting cancer after having a tumour removed in Cuba. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos) Seeking to quell any talk of unrest or infighting in Venezuela during Mr Chavez's absence for treatment, general Henry Rangel Silva said the president was recovering "satisfactorily" and would be home "soon."
"We have seen our comandante thinner than usual but still standing. The truth is he is getting better, he's fine," he told state television, adding that Mr Chavez is still running the government. "The country is calm."

In a speech to the Venezuelan nation broadcast last night, Mr Chavez assured his countrymen that he is doing well as he sought to cool growing questions about his health and ability to govern. He said the operation took out a growth in which there were "cancerous cells."

The 56-year-old said the surgery was carried out after an initial operation nearly three weeks ago for the removal of a pelvic abscess. He called his situation "this new battle that life has placed before us."

Noticeably thinner and paler after his surgeries, Mr Chavez read from a prepared speech with a sad and serious expression. He stood at a podium, flanked by the Venezuelan flag and a portrait of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, the namesake of his Bolivarian Revolution political movement.

Mr Chavez didn't say what type of cancer was found or give any details on the treatment he is receiving. He said it was a mistake not have taken better care of his health through medical checkups. "What a fundamental error," he said.
Mr Chavez also didn't say how much longer he expected to remain in Cuba recovering, and there was no information on when or where his message was recorded.

His appearance came after government efforts, including Tuesday's release of photos and video showing Mr Chavez with Fidel Castro, had failed to quell growing speculation among Venezuelans about his health.

Citing the president's health, the government announced on Wednesday that it was canceling a two-day summit of Latin American leaders that Mr Chavez would have hosted next week on the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's declaration of independence from Spain.

Vice president Elias Jaua has led government events in Mr Chavez's absence, and the president's elder brother, Adan, recently stepped up his public profile by rallying supporters at a weekend prayer meeting for the president's health.

A group of Chavez supporters gathered in Plaza Bolivar in Caracas late last night chanting before television cameras: "Chavez, friend, the people are with you!"
After his television appearance, some of his closest allies went on state television. National Assembly president Fernando Soto Rojas, standing alongside other supporters, said Mr Chavez is in good hands in Cuba. "We wish for him to get better soon! Onward, commander!"

© 2011 Irish Times

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/07/01-1

[Keith Millea]

Published on Sunday, July 3, 2011 by the Sunday Observer/UK

Noam Chomsky Denounces Old Friend Hugo Chávez for 'Assault' on Democracy

Renowned American intellectual accuses the Venezuelan leader of concentrating too much power in his own hands

by Rory Carroll in Caracas




Hugo Chávez has long considered Noam Chomsky one of his best friends in the west. He has basked in the renowned scholar's praise for Venezuela's socialist revolution and echoed his denunciations of US imperialism.

Venezuela's president, who has revealed that he has had surgery in Cuba to remove a cancerous tumor, turned one of Chomsky's books into an overnight bestseller after brandishing it during a UN speech. He hosted Chomsky in Caracas with smiles and pomp. Earlier this year Chávez even suggested Washington make Chomsky the US ambassador to Venezuela.

The president may be about to have second thoughts about that, because his favorite intellectual has now turned his guns on Chávez.

Speaking to the Observer last week, Chomsky has accused the socialist leader of amassing too much power and of making an "assault" on Venezuela's democracy.
"Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, such as fighting world war two, is an assault on democracy. You can debate whether [Venezuela's] circumstances require it: internal circumstances and the external threat of attack, that's a legitimate debate. But my own judgment in that debate is that it does not."

Chomsky, a linguistics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke on the eve of publishing an open letter (see below) that accuses Venezuela's authorities of "cruelty" in the case of a jailed judge.

The self-described libertarian socialist says the plight of María Lourdes Afiuni is a "glaring exception" in a time of worldwide cries for freedom. He urges Chávez to release her in "a gesture of clemency" for the sake of justice and human rights.
Chomsky reveals he has lobbied Venezuela's government behind the scenes since late last year after being approached by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. Afiuni earned Chávez's ire in December 2009 by freeing Eligio Cedeño, a prominent banker facing corruption charges. Cedeño promptly fled the country.

In a televised broadcast the president, who had taken a close interest in the case, called the judge a criminal and demanded she be jailed for 30 years. "That judge has to pay for what she has done."

Afiuni, 47, a single mother with cancer, spent just over a year in jail, where she was assaulted by other prisoners. In January, authorities softened her confinement to house arrest pending trial for corruption, which she denies.

"Judge Afiuni has suffered enough," states Chomsky's letter. "She has been subject to acts of violence and humiliations to undermine her human dignity. I am convinced that she must be set free."

Amnesty International and the European parliament, among others, have condemned the judge's treatment but the intervention of a scholar considered a friend of the Bolivarian revolution, which is named after the hero of Venezuelan independence, Simón Bolívar, is likely to sting even more.

Speaking from his home in Boston, Chomsky said Chávez, who has been in power for 12 years, appeared to have intimidated the judicial system. "I'm sceptical that [Afiuni] could receive a fair trial. It's striking that, as far as I understand, other judges have not come out in support of her … that suggests an atmosphere of intimidation."

He also faulted Chávez for adopting enabling powers to circumvent the national assembly. "Anywhere in Latin America there is a potential threat of the pathology of caudillismo [authoritarianism] and it has to be guarded against. Whether it's over too far in that direction in Venezuela I'm not sure, but I think perhaps it is. A trend has developed towards the centralization of power in the executive which I don't think is a healthy development."

Chomsky expressed concern over Chávez's cancer and wished the president a full and prompt recovery.

Chomsky's book Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance became a publishing sensation after Chávez waved a copy during a UN address in 2006 famous for his denunciation of President George W Bush as a devil.

Its author remains fiercely critical of the US, which he said had tortured Bradley Manning, alleged source of the diplomatic cables exposed by WikiLeaks, and continued to wage a "vicious, unremitting" campaign against Venezuela.

The Chávez government deserved credit for sharply reducing poverty and for its policies of promoting self-governing communities and Latin American unity, Chomsky said. "It's hard to judge how successful they are, but if they are successful they would be seeds of a better world."

Leonardo Vivas, co-ordinator of Latin American initiatives at the Carr Center, said that Afiuni's case was the most prominent example of the erosion of justice in several Latin American countries. The center hoped that Caracas would now heed Chomsky.

"He is one of the most important public intellectuals in the US and is respected by the Venezuelan government."
The decision to lobby publicly was taken because quiet diplomacy had limits, said Vivas.

Chávez, who is convalescing in Cuba, has a reputation for lashing back at criticism, raising the risk that the Afiuni initiative could backfire.
"That could happen," said Vivas. "But that would mean recognition of the problem."

Chomsky's letter
Judge María Lourdes Afiuni has suffered enough

With this public letter I want to express my open support of the liberty of judge María Lourdes Afiuni, detained in Venezuela since December 2009. In November of last year I was informed of her situation by the Latin American initiative of the Carr Center for human rights policy at Harvard University. Ever since, I have been directly involved in mediation efforts with the Venezuelan government, with the purpose of releasing her from prison through a gesture of clemency by President Chávez.

Judge Afiuni had my sympathy and solidarity from the very beginning. The way she was detained, the inadequate conditions of her imprisonment, the degrading treatment she suffered in the Instituto Nacional de Orientación Femenina, the dramatic erosion of her health and the cruelty displayed against her, all duly documented, left me greatly worried about her physical and psychological well-being, as well as about her personal safety.

Those reasons motivated me in December 2010 to address, jointly with the Carr Center, a petition for an official pardon from the president in the context of the yearly presidential amnesties.

In January I received with relief the news that Venezuela's attorney general had suggested house arrest for judge Afiuni given her fragile health condition, which ended up with emergency surgery. Being in her house with her family and with adequate medical attention has been without doubt a significant improvement of her situation.

However, judge Afiuni has suffered enough. She has been subject to acts of violence and humiliations to undermine her human dignity. I am convinced that she must be set free, not only due to her physical and psychological health conditions, but in conformance with the human dignity the Bolivarian revolution presents as a goal. In times of worldwide cries for freedom, the detention of María Lourdes Afiuni stands out as a glaring exception that should be remedied quickly, for the sake of justice and human rights generally and for affirming an honorable role for Venezuela in these struggles.

For the above reasons I want Venezuelans to be aware of my total solidarity with judge Afiuni, while I affirm my unwavering commitment with the efforts advanced by the Carr Center in Harvard University to release her from imprisonment. At the same time, I shall keep high hopes that President Chávez will consider a humanitarian act that will end the judge's detention.

© 2011 Guardian/UK

From the comments section:

It's not too impressive to me that Chomsky teamed up with the Carr Center. Samantha Power, who was one of the primary female voices pushing for the Libyan invasion, used to be its executive director. The center is also supported by the likes of the Carnagie and Ford Foundations. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carr_Center_for_Human_Rights_... The Carr Center was widely criticized several years ago for helping to revise the Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which pertained to the detainee capture and imprisonment. They were purportedly brought in at the time to reduce civilian casualties: "How could Harvard sit there and put the imprimatur of a human rights center on counterinsurgency?" said Tom Hayden, the Vietnam War-era activist, who has complained about the collaboration in The Nation and on The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com). "It lends an Ivy League cloak of legitimacy to counterinsurgency, which is inherently secret." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/books/22harv.html

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/07/03