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Sick Chavez delights Venezuelans with surprising return from Cuba
Source: AFP |
February 19, 2013, Tuesday
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VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez shocked and delighted people by returning home yesterday after spending more than two months in Cuba for cancer surgery and treatment.
Chavez announced his return on Twitter, and his arrival at Caracas airport was not broadcast on TV, which is unusual in this oil-rich country he so thoroughly dominates politically and personally. Chavez was immediately hospitalized to continue treatment.
"We have arrived again to the Venezuelan motherland," Chavez wrote. "Thank you, God. Thank you, my beloved people. We will continue my treatment here."
From the airport, he was taken to Carlos Avarela Military Hospital in Caracas, said his son-in-law and Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's handpicked political heir, swiftly went on national television to declare that Venezuelans were "absolutely happy" to have the president back and promised an update on the state of his health late yesterday.
Venezuelans had neither seen nor heard from Chavez since he left for Cuba in December, although on Friday photos of a bedridden but smiling Chavez were shown on Venezuelan TV.
Maduro also called on his countrymen to show solidarity with Chavez "without disturbing his calm."
Venezuelans last saw Chavez when he left for Cuba December 10 for his fourth round of cancer surgery since being diagnosed in mid 2011.
The government had never said what kind of cancer he had or where it was, or when he might return home. Now, seemingly out the blue, Chavez is back.
People started gathering yesterday morning in Bolivar Plaza to celebrate the return of their larger than life comandante, a garrulous populist who is the most visible face of the Latin American left and a thorn in the side of Washington for his alignment of oil-rich Venezuela with nations such as Iran, Syria and Cuba.
"He's back, he's back, he's back," supporters chanted, footage broadcast on state-run VTV showed.
"There are no words to describe this moment. GOD BLESS YOU," tweeted Chavez fan @jennygarral1.
Mauro Delgado, an Ecuadoran taxi driver who has lived in Caracas for 34 years, said "if God is keeping him alive it must be for something. I think that if he came back it is because he is getting better. Otherwise, he would have stayed in Cuba."
Fidel Castro hailed his long-time friend's return home. He said a "long and anxious" wait is over for the Venezuelan people, thanks to Chavez's "stunning physical stamina and the total dedication of the doctors" who treated him in Havana. That medical team accompanied Chavez back home.
VTV showed employees at the network celebrating live on air, accompanied by Information Minister Ernesto Villegas.
The 58-year-old Chavez, who has been in power for more than 14 years, had declared himself free of cancer after earlier rounds of surgery and treatment and went on to win another six year term in elections last October.
But he suffered a relapse, and after the latest surgery on December 11 in Havana he was still too sick to come back to Venezuela for his scheduled inauguration on January 10.
The inauguration has been postponed indefinitely, and Maduro has essentially been running Venezuela in Chavez's absence.
Chavez announced his return on Twitter, and his arrival at Caracas airport was not broadcast on TV, which is unusual in this oil-rich country he so thoroughly dominates politically and personally. Chavez was immediately hospitalized to continue treatment.
"We have arrived again to the Venezuelan motherland," Chavez wrote. "Thank you, God. Thank you, my beloved people. We will continue my treatment here."
From the airport, he was taken to Carlos Avarela Military Hospital in Caracas, said his son-in-law and Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's handpicked political heir, swiftly went on national television to declare that Venezuelans were "absolutely happy" to have the president back and promised an update on the state of his health late yesterday.
Venezuelans had neither seen nor heard from Chavez since he left for Cuba in December, although on Friday photos of a bedridden but smiling Chavez were shown on Venezuelan TV.
Maduro also called on his countrymen to show solidarity with Chavez "without disturbing his calm."
Venezuelans last saw Chavez when he left for Cuba December 10 for his fourth round of cancer surgery since being diagnosed in mid 2011.
The government had never said what kind of cancer he had or where it was, or when he might return home. Now, seemingly out the blue, Chavez is back.
People started gathering yesterday morning in Bolivar Plaza to celebrate the return of their larger than life comandante, a garrulous populist who is the most visible face of the Latin American left and a thorn in the side of Washington for his alignment of oil-rich Venezuela with nations such as Iran, Syria and Cuba.
"He's back, he's back, he's back," supporters chanted, footage broadcast on state-run VTV showed.
"There are no words to describe this moment. GOD BLESS YOU," tweeted Chavez fan @jennygarral1.
Mauro Delgado, an Ecuadoran taxi driver who has lived in Caracas for 34 years, said "if God is keeping him alive it must be for something. I think that if he came back it is because he is getting better. Otherwise, he would have stayed in Cuba."
Fidel Castro hailed his long-time friend's return home. He said a "long and anxious" wait is over for the Venezuelan people, thanks to Chavez's "stunning physical stamina and the total dedication of the doctors" who treated him in Havana. That medical team accompanied Chavez back home.
VTV showed employees at the network celebrating live on air, accompanied by Information Minister Ernesto Villegas.
The 58-year-old Chavez, who has been in power for more than 14 years, had declared himself free of cancer after earlier rounds of surgery and treatment and went on to win another six year term in elections last October.
But he suffered a relapse, and after the latest surgery on December 11 in Havana he was still too sick to come back to Venezuela for his scheduled inauguration on January 10.
The inauguration has been postponed indefinitely, and Maduro has essentially been running Venezuela in Chavez's absence.
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