KINGSTON, Jamaica - As the world awaits further news on the health of Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, representatives of the governments of Jamaica and Venezuela and a throng of other diplomats gathered yesterday at the Grace Missionary Church in Kingston to offer prayers on his behalf.
Chávez, who is to be sworn in as president for another term, is currently undergoing treatment for cancer.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who was present at the church service, used the occasion to highlight the long-standing relationship between Jamaica and Venezuela.
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic)
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is still suffering a "severe" respiratory infection that has hindered his breathing as he struggles to recover from cancer surgery in Cuba, the government said on Thursday. The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in more than three weeks. Officials say he is in delicate condition after his fourth operation in just 18 months for an undisclosed form of cancer in his pelvic area.
CARACAS, (Reuters) – Vice President Nicolas Maduro returned to Venezuela yesterday after visiting Hugo Chavez in hospital in Cuba, but gave no new details on the cancer-stricken president as rumors grow about his condition.
Flanked by senior government figures including Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, Maduro toured a coffee production plant in Caracas – the type of visit that the president made frequently before he fell ill.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s battle with cancer threatens $7 billion of subsidized oil exports that help prop up Cuba’s economy and contain inflation in Caribbean nations from Jamaica to the Bahamas. Chavez, hospitalized in Havana after a fourth operation, sent Cuba $3.6 billion of oil in 2011 through the Petrocaribe program that serves 70 million people across Central America and the Caribbean. Cuba failed to make discoveries in the first offshore drilling effort since 2004 as Repsol SA, Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA reported dry wells.
CARACAS, Venezuela, (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in an induced coma and on life support in a Havana hospital, sources told Spanish newspaper ABC. At the same time, Vice President Nicolas Maduro urged Venezuelans not to believe rumors about Chavez's health. He told Venezuelan broadcaster Telesur Chavez was "aware of the complex and delicate situation he is going through" and said Chavez had "the same strength as always" when Maduro visited him the past few days. Maduro said Chavez squeezed his left hand "strongly" before Maduro left the hospital room.
The Caribbean Community wishes to convey its full support for  the Mission to Venezuela currently being led by the Organisation of American States (OAS) Secretary-General H. E. Cesar Gaviria with the aim of promoting political dialogue between the Government of President Hugo Chavez and opposition groups.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has followed with great concern the events currently unfolding in Venezuela, which call into question the legitimacy of the democratically elected Government.
Heads of Government of CARICOM and CANADA, at their Sixth Summit Meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica on January 19, 2001, were briefed by the Government of Guyana on the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
The Heads of Government noted that the Government of Venezuela continued to make claims to Guyana's territory.