Chavez in a 'very delicate' state
2013-03-05 16:59
Caracas - The condition of cancer-stricken Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez has worsened as the leftist leader suffers from a new and
severe infection and his breathing has become more difficult, the government
said.
The once omnipresent face of the Latin American left, now
breathing with the aid of a tracheal tube, has neither emerged nor spoken in
public in almost three months, leaving the oil-rich nation and the wider region
on tenterhooks.
State-run television called on Venezuelans to gather in
front of the president's military hospital to pray for him on Tuesday.
"He has a new and severe infection,"
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said in a statement read from the
hospital late on Monday, adding that there was a "worsening of respiratory
function”.
The sombre government statement came two weeks after
Chavez, 58, checked into the military hospital following two months of
treatment in Cuba, where he underwent his fourth round of cancer surgery since
June 2011.
Saying Chavez continues to "cling to Christ and life”,
Villegas reiterated that he was undergoing "intensive chemotherapy, as
well as complementary treatments" and that his "condition continues
to be very delicate”.
But the government did not give a prognosis about the
health of the president who has been in power for 14 years.
Chavez's prolonged absence - which prevented him from
being sworn into a new six-year term earlier this year - has angered the
opposition, which accuses the government of lying about his condition.
"We are still waiting for a concrete answer, for them
to tell us if the president can return to power or not," said Gerardo
Leaiza, 22, who was among 50 university students who have spent a week chained
to each other in the middle of a Caracas streets, demanding that the government
"tell the truth" about Chavez.
If Chavez is unable to govern, Leaiza said, "Elections
should be called."
Vice president lashes out at opposition
Chavez's chosen successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro,
and other senior officials have lashed out at the opposition and rumours that
Chavez may be dead or dying, saying it is all part of a campaign to destabilise
the nation.
Officials have only released a set of photos showing him
in his Havana hospital bed, smiling with two daughters, on 15 February, three
days before his homecoming.
The scarcity of images has fuelled rumours about his
health.
Villegas called on Venezuelans to be on guard in the face
of a "psychological war deployed by foreign laboratories with spokespeople
in the corrupt Venezuelan right who seek to generate violent scenarios as a
pretext for a foreign intervention."
The government, he added, "rejects the hypocritical
attitude of Hugo Chavez's historical enemies, who have always shown him hate,
insults and contempt, and who are now using his health situation as an excuse
to destabilise Venezuela."
A few hours before the statement, state-run television
showed the presidential guard inaugurating a new tank squadron.
"Whatever happens, with Chavez it will always be for
us: 'With Chavez everything, without Chavez nothing,'" said General Jose
Ornellas, the squadron's commander and head of the armed forces.
Officials and relatives, meanwhile, sent messages of
support on Twitter.
Messages of hope and thanks
One of Chavez's daughters, Maria Gabriela, thanked
supporters on Twitter, writing: "All my love to you! We continue to cling
to God! Thanks for the messages of solidarity!"
Prisons Minister Iris Varela wrote: "God bless and
protect Comandante Chavez."
The government has sent mixed messages about Chavez's
condition, saying last week that he was still suffering from respiratory
problems before declaring the next day that he had held a five-hour meeting
with aides.
The opposition says it doubts the meeting ever took
place.
Maduro revealed for the first time on Friday that Chavez
began receiving a tough new round of chemotherapy in Cuba after a respiratory
infection had improved in January, and that the ailing leader had decided to
continue the treatment in Caracas.
He has since said Chavez is "in good spirits"
while fighting for his life, and that he is issuing instructions about
political and economic policies by writing because of his tracheal tube.
The firebrand leader stealthily returned to the capital
on 18 February, announcing his homecoming with a Twitter message in the dead of
night.
The government has never disclosed the exact nature,
location or severity of the cancer, saying only that it was in the pelvic
region.
In power for 14 years, Chavez was re-elected to a
six-year term in October but was unable to attend his 10 January inauguration.
The Supreme Court approved the swearing-in ceremony's indefinite delay.
Before Chavez left for Cuba in December, he designated
Maduro as his political heir and urged Venezuelans to vote for him if he is
unable to resume his duties. The constitution says elections must be held
within 30 days if the president becomes incapacitated.
"Comandante Chavez continues to cling to Christ and
life, conscious of the difficulties that he is facing and strictly following
the programme designed by the medical team," Villegas said, ending the
statement by saying: "Long live Chavez!"
