Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE BROTHER OF Hugo Chavez has denied that the ailing Venezuelan president is in coma, saying the Venezuelan leader is responding well to cancer treatment in Cuba and making progress on a daily basis.
“Reports that the president is in a coma and that the family is discussing ending life support, are totally false,” Adan Chavez, governor of the state of Barinas, said in a statement on Saturday.
He “continues to respond well to his medical care and to make daily progress in his recovery.”
Chavez, whose OPEC-member nation controls the world’s largest proven oil reserves, has been out of the public eye since undergoing surgery in Havana on 11 December. It is the fourth such operation in the 18 months since his condition was made public.
Previously, officials said the fiery leftist leader was suffering from a severe pulmonary infection that resulted in a “respiratory insufficiency”. That fueled speculation about his prospects for a full recovery – and his political future.
A recent report in the Spanish newspaper ABC said the Venezuelan president was in an induced coma and on life support.
Inauguration postponed
The uncertainty surrounding Chavez’s condition has unsettled Venezuela.
The government was forced to postpone the president’s scheduled inauguration on Thursday, as it became clear that he could not attend. Authorities insist the country’s constitution allows Chavez to take the oath of office at a later time.
But the opposition has objected, calling for a medical board to review the absent leader’s health – a demand rejected by the Supreme Court, which said the delayed swearing-in was constitutional.
In Cuba on Saturday, President Raul Castro voiced his support for the Venezuelan leadership, his government’s closest and most critical economic and political ally.
Castro’s comments came during a meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who arrived in the Cuban capital late Friday to visit Chavez.
Raul Castro “expressed his confidence in the ability of the Venezuelan people and their institutions to address and overcome any challenge,” a government statement said.
“Raul and Maduro shared their mutual satisfaction with the emotional demonstration of support for Venezuela and President Chavez on January 10 in Caracas,” it added, in a reference to a mass rally on the Venezuelan capital.
South American leaders
Two Chavez allies, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, also arrived in Havana on Friday.
“We all hope for a quick recovery,” Humala said.
Kirchner refused to comment on Chavez’s health when asked by reporters Saturday, saying it should be left to his family. She did, however, thank Castro, 86, for hosting a luncheon for her in his home the previous day.
Castro has been sidelined by health problems and rarely appears in public since stepping down as president of the communist country in 2006.
Support
Chavez’s illness was first detected in June 2011. But the charismatic leader, who has been in power for 14 years, has refused to relinquish the powers of the presidency, even when leaving for Cuba for his latest surgery.
Venezuela’s constitution says new elections must be held within 30 days if the president-elect or president dies or is permanently incapacitated before he takes office or in the first four years of his six-year term.
A large concert featuring about 20 music groups was held in the Venezuelan capital late Saturday in a show of solidarity with the cancer-stricken leader.
But the Venezuelan opposition used the weekend to protest last week’s Supreme Court decision to legitimize the postponement of Chavez’s inauguration, saying the Venezuelan constitution was violated.
“Nobody was sworn in to take power in this country,” opposition mayor of the town of Baruta Gerardo Blyde said at one of the rallies. “We are witnessing the beheading of the republic.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
That roughly a third of renters would support this government is certainly surprising.
@P. J.: I wonder if some voting boxes went astray in transport? Really surprised at some of the outcomes so far… anyway, that’s my conspiracy bit for the week.
@Lydia Mcloughlin:
Haha hahaha hahahaha haha hahaha hahahaha haha hahaha
@Lydia Mcloughlin: doubtfull as every box that leaves and goes to counting centres has a garda escort
@Lydia Mcloughlin: lol
It seems, Sinn Fein are afraid that voters might bring up their unsavoury past at the doorstep. Such as support for Garda killers, robberies of banks and post offices, to fund their murders. Their protection racketeering, and drug dealing . I can see why they agents didn’t meet with the voters .
@Patrick MC Dermott: they didn’t have a bother at the last general election. They lost support because of their flip flopping. Soft approach to immigration anc suing journalists,
@brian madden: then why did ZERO seats go to immigration parties if immigration was an issue?
@9QRixo8H: Because you could see immigration as being an issue without supporting “solutions” offered by far right candidates
@9QRixo8H: Zero? They got two seats
@Paul Ferguson: Two out of ~950.
@Brendan O’Brien: They didn’t win many seats however they did secure a large portion of the vote. In previous elections they would have been the first eliminated but hung on in some areas until near the end. Their problem is that they have only one policy and aren’t well known in the local areas. There was one elected in my county but they are well known in the community doing a lot of volunteer work etc and that’s what gets you seats in local elections.
Sinn Fein lost the plot by allowing our culture to be eroded not taking a stronger stance on our neutrality & supporting the government in the recent referendum
It was the govts referendum and they won overall lol. The yes parties romped home while the no parties are licking wounds
@Criostoir Mac Raghnaill: How has ‘our’ culture been eroded, and what could SF have done to stop this?
Immigration is the issue that SF lost on . Speculating will not change it .
Australia has very stringent immigration laws and nobody refers to them as right wing and racists
@BL Music: Most racist place I ever lived in.
@BL Music: Anti-immigrant parties got a combined result of 0.9%.
@BL Music: The country was built on racism. Racism is still systemic and built into their politics and society. The reason we don’t hear of it here is more to do with our media, who owns them and the fact the most Australians are white.
@Uí Braonáin: what? Do you really believe our media would not take any opportunity to call white people racist.
The SF meltdown is beautiful
2019 election, SF 81 Seats, FG 255, FF 279. This time around SF will probably gain more seats than FF or FG. The GE in 2020 saw SF massively increase their share of the vote. Why, because people don’t bother voting in local elections because they don’t see the point. Did I vote, yes, did I vote SF, no. I don’t get why the FF and FG are so happy that over HALF the electorate are so demotivated by what they see that they don’t vote.
@Eddie Garvey: Probably because we’ve had covid, cost of living crisis, housing supply issues, energy crisis, war in ukraine, refugees, etc, since the last election. I think many understand that the country had to take repeated bites out of the biggest shit burger in living memory. No government, of any political formulation, would have done anything differently or had any effect on such huge external factors. It’s incredibly easy to crow from the opposition benches criticising, demanding, and pretending none of the above would affect everything here.
People see cynical opportunism, weather vane politics, and bluster for what it is. The centre ground is mostly holding. I’m grateful for that, at least.
Was chatting to a friend last week who was telling me how bad the government was. Asked him yesterday what he thought of the length of the European ballot paper to which he said he didn’t vote.
Absoulte joke how many of the government haters actually stayed at home and let others decide for them.
As for SF they don’t look to be much of an alternative to the current regime they blow with the wind last years racists are people with genuine concerns this year. I think a lot of their voter base is turning of them.
Why are people surprised with the vote for FG and FF? Not everybody is in the same position as those who can’t believe how votes have been cast. The majority of people in the country have made a decent life for themselves and are doing alright. Their votes reflect this. Some have not fared so well and their votes are reflected otherwise. We are not all in the same boat. Some have learned to paddle a bit better than others.
@Sun Rise:
Let’s see how hard children and grandchildren in future have to paddle because they give more of their wages to stuff the pockets of those who happen to have been born when life in Ireland was fair for those who worked.
The pretence of having assets inflated by speculative markets may give some a sense of comfort and achievement, but it comes at a price and is untenable for future generations.
So “mass migration” FFG romped home. While the anti-immigrant parties gained zero seats so far.
@9QRixo8H: if SF worked as hard as you are deflecting they wouldn’t be in this mess lol
@9QRixo8H: F mad!
SF for years courted the social welfare vote. Social welfare recipients are the main drivers behind the anti- immigration voice. This is where they lost support. I am not SF supporter, but I admire the fact that they didn’t go chasing that vote. Well done SF for not jumping on the bandwagon.
@ian: a very nice way of saying social welfare recipients are racists
GOOD BY MARY LU
I was wondering why The Wolfe Tones wasn’t blaring from Shinner radios lol
In my opinion the sf leadership adopting the blind pig headed entitled hubris of ffg alienated alot of people who would normally vote for them
There is a great danger in Ireland that politicians may misread the results as a sanction to continue with convictions that many in Europe have found awful. The misadventure of experimental theorists, where millions died while they were pursuing experiments to make a virus more infectious in humans, is a sign that society may be ready to alter its views on how politicians behave and how they are used.
The idea that May temperatures were the highest recorded in Ireland may be a low point for the politicians and media because the direction of travel is still towards a belief that controlling human behaviour is also controlling the weather/temperatures arising from academic politics.
I hope some commenters here are more considerate of what is being said.
Ask matt the thrasher why sf lost voters he knows everything
@Gerald Kelleher: In the future Ireland will have those who succeed in making a comfortable life for themselves and those who fail to do so. This is not a new phenomenon. It is the same all over the world and not unique to Ireland.
Well done there ian nice little attack on Irish people..Love the way Irish turn on Irish people. Imagine the looney right got in there.lol
Two girls with very little to no respect for their country whatsoever there.. look at the yolk on the right he lost three general elections
have your say