Chavez back home after cancer surgery
2013-02-18 16:14
Caracas - President Hugo Chavez shocked and delighted
Venezuelans by returning home on Monday 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 later on Monday.
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."
The last time Venezuelans saw Chavez was when he left for
Cuba 10 December for his fourth round of cancer surgery since being diagnosed
in mid 2011.
Government updates on his condition have been sketchy, fuelling
speculation that the president was worse off than officials were admitting or
perhaps even dead.
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.
Pro-Chavez people started gathering on Monday 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."
Long-time friend
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 11 December in Havana he was still too sick to come back to Venezuela for
his scheduled inauguration on 10 January.
The inauguration has been postponed indefinitely, and
Maduro has essentially been running Venezuela in Chavez's absence. There was no
immediate word whether Chavez will now take his oath of office.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, whom Chavez defeated
in the October elections, tweeted: "May the return of president mean that
Mr Maduro and the ministers will get down to work. There are many, many
problems to resolve."
A poll released on Sunday said that if elections were
held now between Maduro and Capriles, the former would win by 14% points.
Pollster Luis Vicente Leon said that even though Chavez
has come home uncertainty remains over the prospect of early elections - they
would be called if Chavez dies or is declared incapacitated.
But with his return, support for Maduro will grow even
more, Leon said.
Opposition
Opposition parties insist Chavez's term ended 10 January
and that if he cannot start a new one in person, an interim president should be
named pending a decision on whether Chavez should be declared incapacitated, in
which case a new election would be called quickly.
But throughout his illness, Chavez avoided relinquishing
power, and the National Assembly had voted to grant him unlimited leave to
undergo medical treatment outside of the country.
In his Twitter message, Chavez also expressed his
gratitude to Cuba and its leaders for their assistance in his medical
treatment.
"Thank you Fidel, Raul and everybody in Cuba,"
he wrote, referring to Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro. "And thank
you, Venezuela, for so much love."
As before, he underscored his belief in God and hopes for
complete recovery.
"I am holding on to Jesus Christ and trust my
doctors and nurses," the president said. "As always, see you in
victory. We will live and we will win."
