Thursday, September 29, 2011

Chavez Hospitalized for Kidney Failure, Nuevo Herald Says

Chavez Hospitalized for Kidney Failure, Nuevo Herald Says
September 29, 2011, 3:44 AM EDT
By Charlie Devereux

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez entered a
hospital in Caracas to undergo emergency treatment for kidney failure,
El Nuevo Herald newspaper reported, citing sources close to the
situation it didn't name.

Chavez, who has been receiving chemotherapy for an undisclosed form of
cancer, checked into the military hospital in the capital on Sept. 27,
according to the newspaper, which is the Spanish-language sister of the
Miami Herald. The Venezuelan leader is likely to undergo dialysis and
may be transferred to a private hospital to receive better treatment,
the report said.

A press official for Chavez who is not authorized to speak publicly
declined to comment. Communications Minister Andres Izarra, while not
confirming or denying the report, said in a posting on Twitter that the
Nuevo Herald journalists who wrote the story should be checked into a
"lunatic asylum."

The former paratrooper, who had a baseball-sized tumor removed by
doctors in Cuba in June, told state television last week he had finished
chemotherapy in Cuba and was anticipating a "full recovery." Chavez has
been preparing for presidential elections scheduled for October of next
year, relying on social media site Twitter and calling into state media
as he seeks to extend his 12-year rule until 2019.

Reduced Appearances

Since being diagnosed with cancer, Chavez, 57, has reduced public
appearances and suspended his "Alo Presidente" Sunday talk show, on
which he sometimes spoke for more than eight hours. Venezuela and Iran
last week agreed to postpone a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said in comments carried by
state television.

Chavez told state television last month that cancer has been like a
rebirth. He said he had ignored the pain he began feeling at the end of
last year because he wanted to celebrate Venezuela's bicentennial and
attend a summit of Latin American leaders before receiving medical care.

Chavez has ruled South America's largest oil-producing country since
1999, ending a 40-year two-party political system and overcoming an
attempted coup in 2002.

Inspired by Fidel Castro, the father of the Cuban revolution, Chavez has
been an outspoken critic of U.S. policies. During a 2006 speech to the
United Nations General Assembly, Chavez said that the podium still
smelled like sulfur a day after President George W. Bush spoke there,
calling Bush the "devil.'"

Nationalizing Gold

Chavez was re-elected in 2006, to a six-year term, with more than 60
percent of the vote. The following year a referendum to solidify
socialism by changing the nation's constitution narrowly lost.

Earlier this month Chavez ordered the nationalization of the gold
industry and gave companies 90 days to form joint ventures with the
state as he seeks to boost control over the nation's metals producers.

The government will hold at least 55 percent of any joint ventures,
according to a decree in the Official Gazette. The decree sets a royalty
rate of 10 percent to 13 percent and said that all Venezuelan gold
production will be sold to the state.

--Editors: Patrick Harrington, John Brinsley

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-29/chavez-hospitalized-for-kidney-failure-nuevo-herald-says.html

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