Friday, July 1, 2011

Chavez in Cuba but still on presidential duty: VP (AFP)

CARACAS (AFP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in cancer treatment in Cuba, is still in full command of his South American nation and does not plan to delegate power for now, his vice president said Friday.

"The president of the Republic is fully exercising his constitutional powers," said Vice President Elias Jaua, who has been pressured by opposition lawmakers who argue that Chavez should have officially handed him the government's reins after he had to undergo emergency surgery in Cuba.

But Jaua, 42, insisted that Chavez, 56, "is in command of the government, has never ceased to be, and will continue to be."

As if to emphasize the point, another video of Chavez dated June 29 aired on state television Friday. The president was shown in Havana, in a track suit, chatting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, his brother and key political ally Adan Chavez, and a military officer.

In the video, Chavez is heard to joke: "If Fidel (Castro) hadn't kidnapped me, I would never have followed the doctors' advice."

Venezuela's constitution potentially allows a president to be outside the country for up to 180 days with the approval of the legislature.

Some opposition lawmakers argue that the president is staying abroad unconstitutionally because he has not requested lawmakers' permission for the extended stay.

But Chavez's government maintains that he never asked for authorization to work from abroad, and does not need or want it.

The vice president said he is not in control because Chavez still is.

"The president has his constitutionally-defined powers wherever in the world he may be. He is in treatment, in recovery, and has his full mental capacity," Jaua said. "So Venezuela today has complete political and economic stability."

"The president is going to be there (in Cuba) for as long as his doctors tell him ... The president will give an update on that when he sees fit," Jaua stressed.

In a bombshell announcement late Thursday that rocked the politically-polarized South American oil power, Chavez ended weeks of speculation about his health and unprecedented absence from public life.

"Studies confirmed the existence of a tumor with cancerous cells," the leftist leader said late Thursday in his first televised address since being rushed to hospital in Cuba on June 10 during a state visit.

Venezuelan officials had said he was being treated for a painful pelvic abscess, but Chavez announced that the operation had uncovered the tumor and a second operation had been deemed necessary to remove it.

Chavez did not say where the tumor was found or what type of cancer was detected.

"I have been kept informed and am in control of the Venezuelan government," Chavez said, adding that he has been in "constant communication" with Jaua and members of his administration.

Early Friday, his top general insisted the Armed Forces were loyal to Chavez and that the country was calm.

"Of course, I guarantee the Armed Forces support for the president," said General Henry Rangel Silva, head of the Strategic Operational Command.

Referring to the failed two-day bid to topple Chavez in 2002, Rangel Silva insisted that "blind obedience to some leaders whose principles are twisted will not happen again."

The president of South America's biggest oil producer and champion of the Latin American left did not, however, indicate when he would return to Venezuela, where he has been elected president three times since 1998.

In April 2002, Chavez was briefly ousted in a coup d'etat that lasted two days before mass protests saw him freed and return to power. The staunchly anti-US leader frequently alleges assassination and coup plots against him, usually pointing the finger at the United States.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110701/wl_afp/venezuelapoliticscubachavez

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