Chavez to have third chemo session in Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Chavez to have third chemo session in Venezuela
Sat Aug 27, 2011 11:19pm GMT

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez will undergo a third round of chemotherapy for cancer at home in Venezuela beginning Sunday, he said, instead of travelling to Cuba where he had two previous rounds of treatment.

The 57-year-old gave few details during a TV appearance on Saturday, but the choice to have his next session at home could indicate he is more optimistic about the pace of his recovery ahead of a bid for a new six-year term at an election in 2012.

The socialist leader underwent surgery in Havana in June to remove a baseball-sized tumour, then returned to the communist-led island twice for chemotherapy as the guest of his friend and mentor, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

In an apparent return to his governing style before he fell ill, Chavez has raised his pace at work this week, hosting several meetings on state TV to launch government projects.



Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE77Q2XI20110827

[Ken Burch]

1. If the worst happens, who would replace him in the short term?

I assume Venezuela has a presidential succession policy.

[joshcryer]

5. They already suggested that they'd militarize.

Constitution be damned.

[Ken Burch]

6. Could you blame them?

(that is, assuming you've got that right?)

The alternative would be to do nothing and just let the rich take over again.

If they're talking about militarizing, they must have pretty hard evidence that the "opposition" would take Chavez's death or departure from office for health reasons as justification enough for trying to stage a violent coup, as the same right-wing crowd tried to do under Dubya. I hope you accept that it would have been a tragedy if that coup had succeeded.

[joshcryer]

9. Not at all, I never credited authoritarians with respecting democracy.

That includes, btw, the United States in the events where it meddled in democratic practices (which of course was common in Latin America).

[Ken Burch]

10. The "opposition" is authoritarian.

They don't give a damn about "democracy"-they just want to reduce Venezuela to the meaningless rivalry between the old "Liberal" and Conservative parties-that's all the "opposition" wants.

Such a choice would always leave the working-class, Rainbow majority of Venezuelans with nothing to vote for and no reason to participate in politics.

And the community councils would be gone, with governance reduced to nothing but the useless, bourgeois "parliament".

[joshcryer]

16. The opposition is impotent, Chavistas control the military.

Any sort of power that the "opposition" had during Chavez' reign has been nullified in the past decade. Chavez even has his own paramilitary people now. The opposition is composed of many stripes, including labor and unions who find Chavez' policies lacking.

If Chavez dies we'll see who really respects democracy.

[ChangoLoa]

21. Some believe any opposition to Chavez past or future is unacceptable by essence

Fortunately, they're a ridiculous and marginalized minority among the Venezuelan chavista who, contrarily to many foreign ones, know their country is not a stereotyped mysterious tropical land and would never accept that a self-declared army-man successor of Chavez declares himself their dictator because they really value their democracy.

[JackRiddler]

22. Things would be so much better if only the CIA and oligarchs controlled the military, right?

Just keep acting as though the centuries of imperialist war on every country in the region are not a continuing reality. These stark choices are imposed by the situation. Venezuela is a democracy, the people voted for the present government and its policies eight or nine times. The alternative can be seen in Colombia and Honduras, among other places.

[ChangoLoa]

23. False dilemma. The military should be a neutral force and a warranty

...of respect for any electoral result. The Army does whatever the people tell them to do, in the frame of the Constitution, through the government they elected.
For example, Venezuela's top general should never have said that the Armed Forces wouldn't accept the authority of a non chavista government.

People are sovereign, not the Army.

[joshcryer]

24. Yes, you can completely infer that nonsense from what I said.

Not.

Reality is that ultimately a military should only have allegiance with the people, not with any political entities.

[JackRiddler]

14. Nonsense. Propaganda based on the oligarchs' malicious misquoting of Chavez's brother.

Or at this point, generalized fabrication.

The closest Venezuela came to being militarized was in the CIA coup, when the prospective military junta dissolved all constitutional institutions, just before the uprising of the people restored Chavez.

But the 2002 attempt to restore death-squad rule in the US "backyard" must be ancient history to you, right?

[joshcryer]

17. Yes, and Chavez expelled everyone involved in that. So any violence moving foward...

...is on his people.

[rabs]

13. Elías Jaua

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/3XDYkcRPlgO9E4KsFTeWZw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zMDA7cT04NTt3PTQ1MA--/
Jaua is current vice president. According to Ven. Constitution, he is first in line to follow Chavez should Chavez die or become unable to perform presidential duties.

Jaua, only 42, university professor, long history of leftist activism. Appointed in 2000 by Chavez as Minister (Secretaría) of the Presidency and in 2005 as Minister of Agriculture in charge of land reform and expropriation of idle lands.

Chavez appointed Jaua vice president in Jan. 2010.

----------------

Any talk at this time of a right-wing military is baseless pap because the armed forces are solidly behind Chavez. To the contrary, a military coup likely would be to protect Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution.

[Ken Burch]

15. Thanks for the answer.

And Mr. Jaua would probably call a snap election and win solidly, because Venezuelans don't want the pre-Chavez dark ages back.

[joshcryer]

19. Jaua would lose handidly to Capriles.

[Ken Burch]

25. What's so special about Capriles?

There's no way Venezuelans would ever want a president who'd been involved in the attempted coup against Chavez.

And clearly, a program of inviting back foreign corporations(which, by definition means agreeing to give up the country's dignity and sovereignty to said corporations)couldn't do the majority of Venezuelans any good at all.

Why are you backing the candidate of the right-wing elite? Capriles is just a South American Dubya.

[joshcryer]

18. Correct, it would be a left wing military coup. Jua would threaten them politically.

They couldn't run with Jaua, and likely Adin would try to take power, as he suggested in his speech.

[ChangoLoa]

20. "To the contrary, a military coup likely would be to protect Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution"

Indeed

Do you think that would be a legitimate option?

[SharonAnn]

2. Exactly what type of cancer does he have? It never seems to be mentioned.

[Poll_Blind]

3. I've seen it mentioned a couple of times- I believe it was cancer of the bowel.

I had read this back when he was in Cuba and they indicated that he was getting used to life with a colostomy bag, although I believe that was just a temporary thing.

PB

[rabs]

4. Type of cancer has not been officially revealed

After two sessions of chemo in Havana, he has lost his hair.

Anti-Chavez politicians and the opposition media (newspapers, TV, radio) have speculated that it was colon cancer. That has not been officially confirmed.

Chavez today said the third chemo session would not be as strong as the first two and that conditions (his medical exams) were there for having the third session at the military hospital in Caracas in the next few hours.

He said that while he is recovering, he passes the time reading, painting and signing government documents.

--------------------

In short, he seems to be coming along okay.

[EFerrari]

12. My cousin is now in her 6th year of surviving colon cancer.

She's calvita too right now. :)

[devilgrrl]

7. Next thing you know everyone will be having chemo!!!! His cancer is even evil.

:sarcasm:

[Judi Lynn]

8. We'll all be turned into commies and then we'll die! n/t

[Posteritatis]

11. I dislike Chavez, but my "fuck cancer" reaction trumps that

Still down over the damn stuff taking down one of my favorite Canadian politicians.