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Caribbean-Latin America
Hugo closer to shuffling off this mortal coil
2013-02-22
Hugo Chávez is still suffering respiratory problems after his operation in Cuba more than two months ago as he continues to battle cancer, the Venezuelan government has said.

"The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists and the tendency has not been favourable, so it is still being treated," read the first official communique on Chávez's health since his return to Venezuela on Monday.
Translation: he's still on a ventilator and still has a trach.
The short statement was read on national TV by the propaganda information mouthpiece minister, Ernesto Villegas, who said treatment for Chavez's "base illness" – presumably the cancer first detected in mid-2011 – continued without "significant adverse effects for now".

Little detailed medical information has been made public on Chávez's condition, meaning that the government's occasional short statements are examined by Venezuelans for clues about the future for him and the nation he has governed for 14 years.
He's dying. How long does that need to be?
Supporters pray the socialist president may recover and return to active rule, but many Venezuelans believe he has come home to resign and smooth over a transition or simply to die.
He won't resign. Caudillos don't do that...
"The patient remains in communication with relatives and the government political group in close collaboration with the medical work group," the statement added. "The president holds firm to Christ, with absolute will to live and maximum discipline in the treatment of his health."

Chavez, 58, is being treated in a Caracas military hospital.

Apart from a few photos released by the government last week he has not been seen or heard from publicly since an 11 December operation in Havana, his fourth surgery for cancer. He returned home at 2.30am local time on Monday without fanfare or media attention.
Posted by:Steve White

#8  And I thought Latin America's other El Lider Maximo was gonna live forever. Kinda weird that Fidel will outlive this guy.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2013-02-22 22:36  

#7  I myself advised him many years ago to consider having surgery to remove his growths, but he believed intense personal willpower + spiritual stength could overcome his affliction.

The threat of eventual death helps him to prioritize what is important in life, + by extension Govt-Society, versus what is not.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-02-22 18:41  

#6  Stick a fork in him.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226   2013-02-22 16:08  

#5   "The president holds firm to Christ,

Has my vicious Granny said, "bastards cramming"
Posted by: Shipman   2013-02-22 14:03  

#4  What's Venezuelan for fjords?
Posted by: Alanc   2013-02-22 13:50  

#3  We're all dying; some of us just have a better idea of the time frame than others.
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-02-22 08:47  

#2  "I'm getting better"
"Nobody believes you"
"I feeel haaappy"

*clonk*
Posted by: Frank G   2013-02-22 08:47  

#1  As Instapundit often says, "Faster, please".

Of course, he usually says that about some advance in medicine, but it fits here.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2013-02-22 08:37  

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