Société
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The Venezuelan government on Friday lashed out against rumors of the cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez, insisting that he is recovering, and saying all speculations were made to confuse the public.
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Addressing a public event in the western state of Zulia that was broadcast by state-run television, Vice President Nicolas Maduro urged that the attacks and rumors targeting Chaves has to stop.
Maduro said Chavez has been through a hard and complex medical treatment, and the government has informed about his health. He criticized some media in some foreign countries for "organizing a campaign against" Chavez.
He called the Spanish newspaper ABC and Colombian radio Caracol "fascist" news agencies, and are part of a campaign to sabotage against the stability of Venezuela, and lie about Chavez.
According to a ABC report on Friday, Chavez was transferred to the presidential retreat in the island of La Orchilada several days ago, where he might spend his final moments with his family.
In an interview, Guillermo Cochez, former Panamanian ambassador to the Organization of American States, told Radio Caracol that Chavez has been taken off life support after he was declared brain dead.
In a separate event, the Communication Minister Ernesto Villegas insisted that Chavez is in the process of recovery. He also said the rumors are a "psychological warfare" that aims to create unrest among the Venezuelan people.
Also on Friday, Jorge Arreaza, the science, technology and investment minister, said Chavez is "totally tranquil" with his family and medical team at a Caracas' military hospital.
Arreaza, also Chavez's son-in-law, said the ailing president is undergoing his medical treatment normally, after his fourth cancer operation in mid-December in Cuba's capital Havana.
The minister made the remarks at an event delivering digital television decoders to some 200 families in Catia La Mar, Vargas state, 25 kilometers north of the capital.
Last October, the 58-year-old Chavez was re-elected to another six-year term.
After seeking medical treatment for 70 days in Cuba, the Venezuelan leader came back to the country late last month.
Yet he has not been able to appear before the public since then except the government's disclosure of a number of pictures that were taken in Cuba, showing that he was lying in bed with the company of his two daughters.
As what is told recently in a series of short updates on Chavez's health, the authorities claimed last week that his worsening breathing difficulties had forced him to use a tracheal tube.
According to official information, Chavez suffered a severe respiratory infection after the six-hour operation he had in Cuba late last year. His cancer was first detected in his pelvic region in June 2011, yet no one in the Chavez administration has ever confirmed what exact type of cancer the president is suffering from.
Under the country's constitution, an election has to be held within 30 days if the president is pronounced unfit to return to power.
Venezuela's opposition factions have already been in talks to pick a candidate once an election is called.
Chavez has been in power for 14 years. He was supposed to be sworn in as president for a third six-year term on Jan. 10. However, his serious health problems have delayed the inauguration, a decision backed by the Supreme Court.
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