WASHINGTON, CMC – A major human rights group here has urged the Venezuelan government to end censorship and intimidation of media that challenge the official line regarding President Hugo Chávez’s health and inauguration. Human Rights Watch said on Saturday that, in recent days, the Venezuelan government has ordered a television station to cease transmission of spots that question its interpretation of the constitutional requirements for the re-elected president’s inauguration.
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic)
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's government says President Hugo Chavez is conscious and responding to treatment for a respiratory infection at a Cuban hospital. Information Minister Ernesto Villegas says the infection has been controlled, but Chavez is still suffering from respiratory deficiency. Chavez has been fighting the infection after undergoing a fourth round of surgery Dec. 11 for a cancer in the pelvic area.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - The prognosis for the recovery from cancer of President Hugo Chavez is uncertain. If he is not able or does not assume the Venezuelan presidency, then it brings into question the continuation of PetroCaribe on which Caribbean countries are heavily dependent. The termination, phasing out, or revision of the terms of PetroCaribe would have devastating repercussions for the region already struggling to survive the global economic crisis.
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez is famous for speeches that last for hours, and Thursday should have been a special day for the loquacious socialist to let loose. But even with a parade of foreign dignitaries in town to laud him and a large, boisterous crowd on the day he was to be sworn in for a triumphal new term, Mr. Chávez’s silence spoke loudest of all. The country had been warned in advance that Mr. Chávez was too sick to slip on the presidential sash and raise his hand to take the presidential oath.
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez’s supporters have not ruled out swearing him in from his hospital in Havana. His detractors are calling for government investigators to go check his pulse themselves. The justices whom Mr. Chávez’s allies have named to the Supreme Court have decided that he can continue to govern in absentia.
CARACAS, Venezuela, (UPI) -- A Venezuelan Supreme Court ruling letting President Hugo Chavez begin his new term Thursday in absentia was politically motivated, a key opposition leader said.
The court's ruling was intended "to resolve the problem" in the ruling United Socialist Party of a growing power struggle between Vice President Nicolas Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, Henrique Capriles said.
The power struggle has "totally paralyzed" the government, he said.
CARACAS -- Of all the people flocking here Thursday to mark President Hugo Chávez’s new six-year term, the man of the hour, the ailing Comandante, will not be among them.
On Tuesday, National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello announced that Chávez will miss the event, as he remains in Cuba where he is recovering from complicated cancer surgery that has kept him incommunicado for a month.
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela's decision to postpone the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez as he remains in Cuba battling cancer has prompted furious accusations from the opposition that the government is violating the constitution and should tell the country how ill the socialist leader really is.
Venezuelans and their political leaders are facing a week of questions as the country, and the world, wait to see if ailing President Hugo Chavez takes the oath of office January 10.
Thursday is the day designated by the Venezuelan constitution for administering the oath of office. Chavez won re-election in October, but he has been in Cuba for cancer treatment and has not been seen in public for nearly a month.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The election which took place yesterday in Venezuela was of a certain significance. It was a poll among legislators to elect the chairman of the National Assembly and pitted Diosdado Cabello, who already held the post, against challenger Blanca Eekhout, who belongs to the Chávista faction led by Vice President Nicolás Maduro. It masked the jostling for power which is going on behind the scenes in the wake of President Chávez’s latest bout of illness, and the cloud hanging over his swearing in for his fourth term on January 10.