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VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO Chavez has appeared in public for the first time in three weeks today as he returned from Cuba after his latest cancer treatment.
Venezuelan state TV showed Chavez, who was re-elected in October, walking down the steps of his plane accompanied by vice president Nicolas Maduro, and he was seen speaking with officials at Maiquetia international airport.
Chavez said he was very happy to be back but did not elaborate on his health, the subject of intense speculation since he had a cancerous tumor removed last year.
Chavez had gone to Cuba on 27 November for sessions of hyperbaric oxygenation – the breathing of pure oxygen in a sealed and pressurized chamber. He canceled his appearance at Friday’s Mercosur summit in Brasilia.
The 58-year-old Chavez had a cancerous tumor removed from near his pelvic region last year, but the government never disclosed the type or severity of the cancer. In July this year, the president claimed to be cancer-free.
Chavez, who has been in power since 1999 and gained global prominence as an anti-American firebrand, appeared weak and subdued during the presidential campaign, but on 7 October he won a third term that extends to 2018.
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The man is a dictator, he isn’t suffering from cancer, he is the cancer.
Three times elected by the people dictator
He was ousted in a military coup and reinstated by the own people and has been elected ever since. Maybe get your news somewhere besides fox news.
You don’t have to watch Fox News to know that Venezuela came in joint sixth from bottom in the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index. In other words it’s a highly corrupt country. But keep quiet about it, the Chavez fan boys don’t like to hear things like that.
How is he a dictator? He’s won three elections despite a right-wing over-throw followed by him again winning the presidency. The Carter Foundation has described the election process in Venezuela as one of the most transparent in the world. You’re entitled to not like him but its as ridiculous as describing Kenny as a dictator. Its just untrue.
I suppose taking 50% of the population out of poverty, building shitloads of schools, universties and hospitals is viewed as a cancer in todays modern world.
Stop saying he’s a dictator. It’s a silly slander.
@Sean. I know it seems unusual for a country to take care of themselves and answer only to themselves but jealousy will get you nowhere.
I am sure when he first came into power he had the best of intension’s. He changed the constitution to where the President could only serve 2 terms. But as the Years have gone by he has altered the constitution 2 more times first time was to give the Office of President even more powers and removing the Senate and the second time was to allow him to run for president indefinitely. When the Oil workers protested against his increasing autocratic rule he sacked 18000 of them and replaced them with foreign oil workers.
And I guarantee if he ever looks like losing an election he will assume dictatorial power.
Best of luck to him , isn’t it true that he has a weekly tv show called ” ask the president ” where citizens are invited to call him up live on tv and ask him to sort things out with regard to social issues etc. ?
Wish we had that here with our Taoiseach with the tanaiste sittin beside him ..
I’m sure calls aren’t screened at all and the questions can be completely out of the blue!
Like RTE ?
Viva don Chavez!
Hello Chavez bye bye I.M.F and bloodsucking foreign Oil companies.
And the wuncha bankers leeching Latin America since Bolivar beat the slurry out of the Spanish occupation.
Not that the conquistador class are not still in the saddle.
Try Eduado Galeano’s ‘Open Veins of Latin America’ for a summary.
The man really needs to talk to his tailor….
That would be marathon sports
If Venezuela had worthy people in public office who were half as able to enforce the Constitution as they are at showing adulation for the president, Hugo Chavez would have been removed from office and imprisoned long ago.
This man never stops lying. He manipulates the people, falsifies history, carries out the systematic destruction of democracy, has multiplied the domestic problems of the Venezuelan people, and has involved us in dangerous international alliances with nations and terrorist groups.
Krusty the clown without make-up?
Try and pull yourself away from the mirror, Joe…
..you’ll go blind.
Blinder.
Viva Chavez!
lucky he’s not living here or he might die???
have your say