His exhortations urging unity, suggest that the Venezuelan president is
worried that any relaxation of his grip risks unleashing a struggle for
power
The Economist
Published: 00:00 July 25, 2011
Gulf News
The Venezuelan constitution guarantees citizens the right to "timely,
accurate and impartial information". But as Hugo Chavez, the man who
inspired the document, departed on July 16 to resume his cancer
treatment in Cuba, friends and foes alike were once again left with no
answer to the question of the moment: just how ill is the president, and
what is the prognosis? (Chavez returned to Venezuela from Cuba on July 23).
According to the official version, Chavez underwent emergency surgery
for a "pelvic abscess" in early June, after symptoms emerged when he
happened to be in Cuba. It was not until June 30 that he admitted, in a
recorded video, what some independent journalists had been claiming for
some time: that a second operation had removed a cancerous tumour. He
returned, unannounced, to Caracas on July 4 in time to watch (on
television) the celebrations of the bicentenary of Venezuela's independence.
In brief (by his standards) media appearances, he let slip a few more
details of his condition. But there has not been a single medical
bulletin, and even the precise location of the 'baseball-sized' tumour
has still not been revealed.
His choice of Cuba for further treatment suggests that the secrecy will
continue.
Venezuela's medical association is offended because Chavez has sought
care outside the country. Some opponents have pointed out that when
Cuba's veteran leader, Fidel Castro, underwent abdominal surgery in
2006, Cuban doctors were reported to have botched the initial operation.
But in communist Cuba, the information blackout about Chavez's treatment
can be kept up. He insists that "not a single malignant cell" has been
found anywhere else in his body. But he admits that he will require
chemotherapy, contradicting earlier statements by aides.
When he requested permission from the National Assembly to leave the
country, Chavez, a former army officer, gave no date of return. For the
first time, he has delegated some of his administrative and budgetary
powers, to the vice-president, Elias Jaua, and to the finance and
planning minister, Jorge Giordani.
Pro-government legislators argue that the opposition is seeking to ease
Chavez out of office. But his many exhortations in recent weeks urging
unity, both in the ruling party and in the army, suggest that the
president is worried that any relaxation of his grip risks unleashing a
struggle for power.
That is because Chavez has created a personalised regime of
government-by-live-television in which senior officials must interpret
his every whim on pain of dismissal.
To endeavour to show that he remains in charge, before his departure he
created, on camera, an electronic signature for use while he is away.
But it will take more than such theatrics to dispel the doubts over his
ability to micromanage affairs of state from a Cuban hospital. The
governance of Venezuela is now bound up with the president's illness.
Treating this as a state secret may only increase the tension back home.
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/secrecy-surrounds-chavez-1.842447
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