Wed, Feb 22 2012
Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:05pm EST
(Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will undergo another
operation in Cuba after doctors found a probably malignant lesion in his
pelvis, once again raising the question of who could succeed him.
The 57-year-old socialist leader has never named anyone as his choice to
continue his self-styled "revolution," but there are a number of
possible contenders.
Here are some facts about Chavez's closest allies:
DIOSDADO CABELLO
A fellow former soldier who joined Chavez's attempted coup against
President Carlos Andres Perez in 1992, Diosdado Cabello has wielded
considerable power in business, military and government circles during
the Chavez years.
His loyalty has been rewarded with numerous different posts, and in
January Chavez appointed him to the prominent and delicate position of
president of the National Assembly. He is also No. 2 in the ruling
Socialist Party, or PSUV, after Chavez.
As vice president in 2002, Cabello became one of the world's
shortest-serving heads of state when he briefly assumed the top job
during a two-day coup against Chavez.
His first order then was to send a group of elite navy troops to rescue
Chavez, who was being held prisoner by renegade forces at a base on a
Caribbean island.
He governed Venezuela's second most populous state, Miranda, from 2004
until 2008 when opposition leader Henrique Capriles defeated him. He has
served in various ministerial roles including infrastructure, interior,
justice, and public works.
Opposition media question Cabello's business interests and portray him
as the quintessential "boli-bourgeois," a term critics use for those who
have made good during Chavez's "Bolivarian" revolution.
RAFAEL RAMIREZ
Energy minister since 2002 and president of the OPEC member's state oil
company PDVSA since 2004, Ramirez is one of the longest-serving senior
officials in the Chavez administration and also one of the closest to him.
Sometimes seen by outsiders as the de facto No. 2 in the government, he
has huge responsibilities running his ministry as well as one of the
biggest oil companies in the world, particularly since PDVSA has taken
on more and more social functions from providing food to building houses.
Ramirez was previously a student of Adan Chavez, the president's older
brother, at the University of the Andes where he qualified as an
engineering graduate.
A passionate and diehard supporter of "Chavismo," Ramirez created
controversy and infuriated government opponents in a speech declaring
Venezuela's oil industry "roja, rojita" (red from top to bottom).
NICOLAS MADURO
A former trade unionist and bus driver, Maduro has been foreign minister
since 2006 but is now on his way to fight a provincial governorship
election on the orders of Chavez.
Many, particularly in foreign diplomatic circles, had seen him as the
heir-in-waiting after Chavez's cancer diagnosis last year. Maduro
delivered several important government statements after Chavez first
announced his condition from Cuba, and visited him in Havana several
times during his convalescence.
He is married to Cilia Flores, a lawyer who became the first woman to
serve as National Assembly president, between 2006 and 2011, and is now
the country's attorney general. The pair are seen as something of a
"power couple" in government circles.
When Chavez was sent to prison following his failed coup attempt in
1992, it was Flores who led the legal team that won him his freedom two
years later.
ELIAS JAUA
The vice-president was one of the most prominent faces of the government
during Chavez's absence for cancer treatment last year, calling for
unity in the ruling Socialist Party and assuring the world the president
remained in charge.
One of Chavez's closest allies for many years, Jaua has been vice
president since early 2010 after previously serving as Chavez's
agriculture minister and secretary to the presidency. Like Maduro, he is
also being sent to fight a provincial governorship later this year and
will give up his post.
Born in 1969, the sociologist and former university professor helped
found the PSUV that swept Chavez into office, and he was one of the
authors of a new constitution in 2000.
A video showing him slurring his speech while welcoming competitors to a
sports event last year, possibly under the influence of alcohol,
tarnished his reputation at an important time during Chavez's absence in
Cuba.
HENRY RANGEL SILVA
Praising him as a "good soldier", Chavez has made General Henry Rangel
Silva his defense minister despite U.S. allegations that he aided
Colombia's FARC rebels with drug trafficking.
He also joined Chavez's 1992 coup attempt and has occupied various
positions in government since Chavez took power in 1999.
On taking up his new position, Rangel declared that "our military
thinking is anti-imperialist."
ADAN CHAVEZ
The older brother of the president and also one of his political
mentors, Adan Chavez is a physicist by profession who was often counted
among the government's "hardliners."
He was put in charge of strengthening the connections between Venezuela
and communist-led Cuba when he was Caracas's ambassador to Havana.
But he left the inner circle of power around his brother when he decided
to run for the post of governor in their home state of Barinas,
succeeding their father in the position.
Being so close to the president, many supporters of Chavez have
considered him a "safe" choice to succeed him.
But given his more radical left-wing views, he could prove to be a
divisive figure and trigger internal disputes within the PSUV - which he
helped to found.
MARIA GABRIELA CHAVEZ
Often at her father's side, Maria Gabriela carries out some of the
official functions of a First Lady. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro
calls her Venezuela's "heroine."
Chavez has often said he would like to hand over power to a woman,
though Maria Gabriela's chances are seen as slim.
"She was always very close to him (Chavez) and identified with him in so
many ways. It is a type of continuation of him," her mother, Chavez's
ex-wife Nancy, has said.
(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne, Diego Ore, Daniel Wallis, Eyanir Chinea,
Marianna Parraga; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Jackie Frank)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/22/us-venezuela-chavez-allies-idUSTRE81L1N820120222
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