Chavez supporters rally behind ill leader
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez stayed on his sickbed in Cuba yesterday while supporters rallied in his honor on the day he should have been sworn in for a new six-year term in the South American OPEC nation.
The postponement of the inauguration, a first in Venezuelan history, has laid bare the gravity of Chavez's condition after complications from a fourth cancer operation in his pelvic area.
It has also left his chosen heir, Vice President Nicolas Maduro - a former bus driver who shares his boss's radical socialist views - in charge of government until it is known whether Chavez will recover.
"People traveling on foot, the humble, the patriots ... we're going to demonstrate, one proud people with one slogan: we are all Chavez!" Maduro said, rallying supporters.
The president, whose legendary energy and garrulous dominance of the airwaves had often made him seem omnipresent in Venezuela since taking power in 1999, has not been seen in public nor heard from since surgery on December 11.
Venezuela's people are anxiously watching what could be the last chapter in the life of Chavez, who grew up in a rural shack and went on to become one of the world's most controversial heads of state.
The saga also has huge implications for Cuba and other leftist allies in Latin America that have benefited from Chavez's subsidized oil and other largesse.
The postponement of the inauguration, a first in Venezuelan history, has laid bare the gravity of Chavez's condition after complications from a fourth cancer operation in his pelvic area.
It has also left his chosen heir, Vice President Nicolas Maduro - a former bus driver who shares his boss's radical socialist views - in charge of government until it is known whether Chavez will recover.
"People traveling on foot, the humble, the patriots ... we're going to demonstrate, one proud people with one slogan: we are all Chavez!" Maduro said, rallying supporters.
The president, whose legendary energy and garrulous dominance of the airwaves had often made him seem omnipresent in Venezuela since taking power in 1999, has not been seen in public nor heard from since surgery on December 11.
Venezuela's people are anxiously watching what could be the last chapter in the life of Chavez, who grew up in a rural shack and went on to become one of the world's most controversial heads of state.
The saga also has huge implications for Cuba and other leftist allies in Latin America that have benefited from Chavez's subsidized oil and other largesse.
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