Venezuela To Postpone Thursday's Presidential Inauguration

[Purveyor]

CARACAS | Tue Jan 8, 2013 5:00pm EST
(Reuters) - Venezuela will postpone Thursday's presidential inauguration due to President Hugo Chavez's continuing health problems, the government said on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old socialist leader, who has dominated the South American OPEC nation since 1999, has not been heard from or seen in public since his December 11 cancer surgery in Cuba.

The constitution says the president should begin a new term on January 10.

&quot Chavez's) medical team has recommended that the postoperative recovery should extend past January 10," Vice President Nicolas Maduro said in a letter read out to the National Assembly.

The letter did not say when the inauguration would take place or provide any time frame for Chavez's recovery.

The delay is another sign that Chavez's battle with an undisclosed form of cancer in the pelvic region may keep him from ruling for a third term. His resignation or death would upend politics in the oil-rich country that has grown accustomed to his charismatic but controversial leadership.\

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/us-venezuela-chavez-idUSBRE9070ZM20130108

[msanthrope]

1. I think Chavez is dead. nt

[MADem]

4. You might be right--I think he is, at least, on a respirator.

He may be brain dead but kept breathing. Who knows? I don't think we have the whole story OR the truth from the current government. I think they're engaging in a cover-up of some sort.

It doesn't make sense -- no matter how sick he is -- that if his VP could go to his sick bed and supposedly have a conversation with him, that they couldn't clean the guy up, prop him up in a tracksuit jacket, say "Smile for just a second" and take a pic. That would shut EVERYONE up--just a quick snapshot.

But there hasn't been a single photo. Not one.

I'm thinking there's got to be a piece of equipment--like a respirator--that can't be cut out of the picture. People on respirators look very, very ill...because they are.

[MADem]

2. Argentina's head of state is going to try to see him--good luck to her!

Mrs. Kirchner plans to visit the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Vietnam from Jan. 13 to 21 to promote trade ties, in addition to a side trip to Cuba to see Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who is recovering from cancer surgery there.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323482504578228104091786888.html

She is also ducking creditors, but that's another story...

The President of Uraguay was told not to bother to come to Cuba because he wouldn't be allowed to see HC.

At least two fellow leftist presidents - Evo Morales of Bolivia and Jose Mujica of Uruguay - are coming to Caracas for Thursday's ceremony, where it appears there will be a rally in solidarity with the ailing Chavez in place of the inauguration.

Argentina's left-leaning President Cristina Hernandez has announced plans to visit Chavez in Havana on Friday, a move that would appear to confirm that Chavez will miss the swearing-in even though Cabello said there was a chance he could attend.

Underlining the gravity of his condition, Mujica's wife said the Uruguayan leader had been dissuaded from visiting Cuba.

"He first checked if he could go to Havana. But he (Chavez) cannot be seen. So I think going to Havana would be a bother," Mujica's wife, Lucia Topolansky, said in a radio interview.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/08/venezuela-chavez-idUSL1E9C8B3D20130108

[Tempest]

3. The coup supporting church isn't going to like that.

They've done everything they can to try to prevent it from being postponed claiming it's unconstitutional.