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Jan
10
2013
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Court: Chávez Inauguration can be Delayed

OB VX819 0109ch G 20130109143518 Court: Chávez Inauguration can be Delayed

Courtesy of:EPA

On Wednesday, the controversy over the legitimacy of Hugo Chávez’s next term in office continued to grow. An announcement on Tuesday confirmed that Chávez, still ailing from his fourth cancer surgery since 2011, would be unable to attend his own inauguration, giving rise to new constitutional questions regarding whether the president could be sworn in on another day and who should be in charge during his absence.

Chávez was rushed to Cuba for surgery on December 11; reports later surfaced that he had suffered serious “complications,” including a respiratory infection. He has not been seen or heard from in over four weeks.

Despite the constitution’s seeming clarity on this matter, interpretation of the document touched off a heated debate between the president’s supporters and Venezuela’s opposition over whether the constitution requires Chávez to be sworn in on January 10. On Tuesday, Venezuela’s National Assembly – run primarily by members of Chávez’s party – voted to delay the ceremony.

Critics argued that Chávez’s absence from the ceremony meant a caretaker president must be appointed. According to the constitution, that man would be Diosodado Cabello, President of the National Assembly.

On Wednesday, just one day before Hugo Chávez was scheduled to take the oath of office for his third term, the Venezuelan Supreme Court announced the decision that Chávez’s inauguration could legally be postponed.

At a news conference to announce the decision, Supreme Court Chief Judge Luisa Morales ruled that the president and his Vice President, Nicolás Maduro, will continue in their roles, carving out an exception to the constitution due to Chávez’s status as “President re-elect.” Maduro has been running the country in the president’s absence and is Chávez’s named successor.

At the conference, Morales said: “Right now we cannot say when, how or where the president will be sworn in.… As president re-elect there is no interruption of performance of duties… The inauguration can be carried out at a later date before the Supreme Court.”

Many assert that the decision paves the way for Chávez to remain in office for an undetermined amount of time, despite virtually no information about his physical state. Meanwhile, the country remains in the hands of Maduro.

 
Jan
7
2013
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ICYMI: Venezuela’s endgame approaches

Washington Post
January 5, 2013
By Editorial Board

A Venezuelan government statement Thursday said that President Hugo Chavez, who has been secreted inside a Cuban hospital since undergoing surgery on Dec. 11, was facing “complications” from “a severe lung infection.” As has been the case throughout his nearly two-year bout with cancer, details of the strongman’s condition, treatment and prognosis are unavailable. But Venezuelans are bracing themselves for the death of the caudillo who has ruled them — and wrecked their once-prosperous country — over the past 13 years. The United States and its Latin American allies need to prepare, as well.

Mr. Chavez’s critical condition arrived at a critical moment: He is due to be sworn in next Thursday for another six-year term in office. Having won reelection in October after assuring Venezuelans that he was fully cured, the president disappeared soon afterward; in his last appearance before departing for Cuba, he appointed foreign minister Nicolas Maduro as his vice president and political successor. If Mr. Chavez is too ill to attend his inauguration, authorities are saying, they will simply delay it — a stretch of the constitution’s ambiguous wording. But when and if he dies, the constitution is clear: A new election for president should be held within 30 days.

That will be a critical test of Venezuela’s post-Chavez direction. The ruler’s inner circle, which has been gathering around him in Cuba, may consider postponing the election or even calling it off. Their fear — and that of the Castro regime in Cuba — is that a fair vote would be won by opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost the October presidential ballot but is more popular than Mr. Maduro. Mr. Maduro is Cuba’s candidate, the successor most likely to ensure continued deliveries of the heavily subsidized Venezuelan oil that is keeping the Communist regime afloat.

That’s why the first responsibility of the United States and Venezuelan neighbors such as Brazil should be to insist that the presidential election be held and that it be free and fair. The State Department rightly made that demand public on Thursday, following recent private contacts between officials of the two governments. The administration should be prepared to respond quickly if Mr. Chavez’s followers or military leaders — some of whom are under U.S. sanction for drug trafficking — attempt a coup.

Whoever succeeds Mr. Chavez will face a catastrophic economic situation. To win reelection, Mr. Chavez spent wildly last year, increasing the budget deficit to 20 percent of gross domestic product; his successor will be forced to order a sharp and painful devaluation. That will only worsen already high inflation and shortages of staple foods. When poor Venezuelans realize that lavish pre-election promises of new apartments and appliances won’t be delivered, anger toward the new leader may swell.

Sadly, the economic pain caused by Mr. Chavez could, after his death, help create a political movement that will revere his memory. Forty years after the death of Juan Peron, Peronism still haunts and holds back Argentina. If Venezuela is to escape a similar curse, Mr. Chavez’s successors will have to balance economic stabilization against the need to build a political system where democracy, and not autocratic populism, can thrive.

To read this article on the Washington Post, please click here.

 
Jan
4
2013
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ICYMI: Venezuelans demand answers on Chavez’s health

Washington Post
January 3, 2013
By Olga Khazan

Venezuelan officials have been tight-lipped about the health status of President Hugo Chavez, causing rumors about Chavez’s health status to swirl on Twitter and in the Latin American media.

Chavez has not been seen or heard from since a Dec. 11 surgery for an undisclosed type of cancer, and his administration has released few details about his status other than saying his condition remains “delicate” due to complications from a respiratory infection.

Chavez, 58, was elected for a fourth term in office with 54 percent of the vote in October and is due to be sworn in on January 10. If he dies before that date, the chairman of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, will succeed him until new elections are held, but if he dies after that date, the vice president, Nicolas Maduro, would take over.

In the meantime, the suspense is killing Venezuela.

Spanish daily ABC kicked things off with this analysis of Chavez’s condition yesterday (translated from the Spanish):

Hugo Chavez has entered an induced coma in the last few days, with his vital signs very weakened, and maintained only through artificial assistance by the Havana hospital where he was admitted. Sources consulted by ABC confirmed Monday that they were soon planning to disconnect the artificial assistance that prolongs the life of the Venezuelan president.

The article goes on to say that Chavez “has a constant fever, won’t respond to antibiotics, hasn’t eaten solid food for three weeks, had 43.4 centimeters of intestine removed and a tracheotomy, among other health complications,” according to the Huffington Post.

Members of Chavez’s family, on the other hand, say his condition is stable. Chavez’s son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, who serves as minister of science, technology and innovation, tweeted, “Compatriots, DO NOT believe the ill intentioned rumors. President Chavez has spent the day calm and stable, accompanied by his children.”

But armchair oncologists have already weighed in:

“[Chavez] continues on artificial support at this point they are only prolonging unnecessary suffering,” José Rafael Marquina, a Venezuelan doctor who lives in Florida and is an opponent of Chavez, tweeted Wednesday.

“Most likely, he is showing signs of renal failure and a lung infection. But the biggest problem is that, with the delicate situation of the patient, his immune system must be weakened,” Marquina, who claims to receive inside information from the Venezuelan president’s medical team, told Colombian radio station Caracol.

On Twitter, the hashtag #TellTheTruthAboutChavez, as well as its Spanish equivalent, trended in Venezuela this week. Chavez supporters posted messages wishing for a speedy recovery:

“If all of us Venezuelans ask GOD with fervor and faith, surely he will have tend to our pleas, let us pray for Hugo Chavez and for his health,” tweeted Enrique Padron, a Venezuelan musician.

While others simply speculated as to who would take his place:

“People were saying the problem wasn’t Chavez but those that surrounded him . . . and now that’s exactly who we’re in the hands of #TellTheTruthAboutChavez,” tweeted Marcos Rodriguez.

The information vacuum has also provided fodder for Chavez’s opposition, which has called for the government to schedule constitutionally-mandated elections within 30 days if Chavez is too ill to return from Cuba, where his most recent surgery took place.

“To make us believe the president is governing shows a lack of seriousness that borders on irresponsibility,” opposition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo said at a news conference in Caracas, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Because Chavez’s vice president is more pro-Cuban than the National Assembly chair, Cuba may have an incentive to delay reporting Chavez’s condition for another week, argues Venezuela blogger Francisco Toro.

“And given the impenetrability of Cuban state secrecy, it’s hard not to speculate that even if the president has already died, we would have no way of knowing it,” Toro writes.

On the other hand, Venezuela is in poor financial shape, with large deficits that will likely necessitate unpopular austerity measures soon. In that case, National Assembly head Cabello may not be interested in running Venezuela — and fixing its economy — anyway.

Meanwhile, Arreaza has continued his optimistic Twitter campaign: Don’t worry, nothing to see here.

“Commander Chavez still battling hard and sends all his love to our people. Perseverance and patience!!!”

To read this article on the Washington Post, please click here.