Venezuela's Chavez creates agency to watch prices
By IAN JAMES
Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez capped a
busy Thursday full of pronouncements and speeches by signing a decree
that creates a new state authority to oversee prices.
The action aims to attack one of the biggest challenges facing the
oil-exporting country: annual inflation hovering near 24 percent that is
the highest in Latin America.
Chavez also rallied supporters and expressed confidence that he will
survive cancer, a day after saying he expects to eventually undergo
chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
"I'm facing one of the biggest battles of my life," Chavez told the
crowd in a downtown Caracas plaza. "With the grace of God we will also
win it."
The newspaper Estado de S. Paulo in Brazil reported on its website
Thursday night that Chavez would seek treatment at Hospital Sirio
Libanes, a facility in Sao Paulo known as one of the best hospitals for
cancer treatment in Latin America. The newspaper did not cite its
sources for the report, and there was no immediate comment from the
Venezuelan government.
Presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay have
both been treated for cancers at Sirio Libanes. Lugo underwent treatment
last year and Rousseff in 2009 when she was not yet Brazil's president.
Rousseff last week offered Chavez the help of Brazilian doctors for his
cancer treatment, telling him in a phone conversation that Brazilian
specialists could be sent to Venezuela or he could come to Brazil.
Chavez did not give details about his cancer treatment in a televised
Cabinet meeting Thursday, instead focusing on domestic affairs.
He signed a decree to create a new "national system of costs and prices"
that he said will prevent businesses from overcharging Venezuelans and
ensure "fair prices."
"Speculation should end," Chavez said.
Chavez enacted the decree, among others, by using special legislative
powers granted by his congressional allies in December that allow him to
enact laws on his own for 18 months.
The government already maintains price controls on many basic food
products, ranging from milk to sugar to beef. It wasn't immediately
clear what additional steps the new agency will take.
During his outdoor appearance Thursday, Chavez rallied hundreds of
supporters in a plaza where he sang along with live music and pledged an
"eternal revolution" despite his recent cancer diagnosis.
The 56-year-old leader underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a
cancerous tumor from his pelvic region.
Despite his health problems, Chavez projected the image of a chief
executive control Thursday by speaking for 109 minutes during the
Cabinet meeting.
Chavez touched on a range of subjects, including vowing to accelerate
his government's socialist-inspired Bolivarian Revolution.
"Socialism or nothing," Chavez told his ministers while saying his
government is moving ahead with "revolutionary laws."
Chavez also condemned NATO airstrikes in Libya and expressed support for
the North Africa nation's embattled leader, Moammar Gadhafi.
"Gadhafi sent a message," Chavez said, without specifying what the
Libyan leader told him or when the message was sent. "Gadhafi is there
resisting. How long will this outrage go on?"
"It's a heroic and free nation, and its government responds to Libya,
not to the interests of the empire, not the old ones nor the new
empires," Chavez said, referring to the United States and European
countries that have participated in the airstrikes.
"Long live Libya and its independence! ... Courage, Gadhafi. Courage,
Libya," Chavez said. "They're challenging the murderous bombs of NATO."
He also expressed support for the Syrian government, saying
"imperialism" is behind the four-month revolt in that country.
Chavez said another of his allies, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, had called him. "I haven't been able to talk with him,"
Chavez said, adding that he hoped to soon.
Among the other decrees signed by Chavez was the expropriation of a rice
processing plant in central Guarico state, which he said had been
violating labor laws and other requirements.
The leftist leader discussed the government's farming, housing and
electricity projects and dived into Venezuelan history while reading the
country's 1811 declaration of independence.
Chavez drank a single cup of coffee, saying he has cut back drastically
from the dozens of cups he used to consume in a single day.
"I've freed myself from an addiction," Chavez told his Cabinet ministers.
Chavez paused during the meeting, at 3 p.m., and said it was time for
him to take a pill. He held up half a pill in his fingers without saying
what it was and swallowed it by downing a glass of water brought to him
by a woman wearing a white medical robe. "Iron discipline, I take the
pill," Chavez said.
In the past week, Chavez's Twitter account has been active with several
messages posted each day, and he has appeared on television addressing
troops and attending Mass.
He and government officials have not said what type of cancer is
involved. Chavez has said a tumor the size of a baseball was removed in
last month's surgery.
Chavez has kept his speeches shorter than usual, saying he is under
strict doctors' orders.
But on Thursday, he spoke twice and for a total of more than two hours.
During his speech to supporters, Chavez wore fatigues and the red beret
from his days as an army paratroop commander.
Chavez raised the flag over Plaza Bolivar in downtown Caracas while the
national anthem was played. Supporters clapped and cheered.
"I wanted to come here to accompany you physically because these days
I've been accompanying you ... with my spirit, with my soul rather than
my body, for the reasons you all know," he said.
Chavez, who is up for re-election in 2012, said he is confident "the
Bolivarian Revolution, the socialist revolution ... will never again
leave here."
After his speech, he grabbed a microphone and joined a Venezuelan joropo
band in singing songs from the rural plains where he grew up.
"Long live the plains!" Chavez said with a smile.
An announcer at the plaza told the crowd: "Long live El Comandante Hugo
Chavez!"
The crowd responded with chants of: "Onward commander!"
Chavez also shouted: "I will live, we will live, for the homeland!"
He was scheduled to meet with Peru's president-elect, Ollanta Humala, on
Friday, according to Humala's political party. The visit had been
delayed while Chavez was recovering in Cuba.
----
Associated Press writers Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo and Patricia Rondon
Espin in Caracas contributed to this report.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/14/v-fullstory/2314188/hugo-chavez-rallies-supporters.html
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