Hugo Chavez near death: Cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is “fighting a great battle” and is near death, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said.
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said late Thursday that ailing leader Hugo Chavez is close to death and is battling for his life. However, many Venezuelans believe Chavez, who is stricken with cancer, will make a return to power.
Maduro said Chavez “is fighting a great battle ... for his life, for his health,” reported The Associated Press
He added that the president “is battling there for his health, for his life, and we’re accompanying him.”
The announcement will surely increase speculation about whether Chavez can return to power. Earlier this year, Venezuela’s opposition contended that if Chavez could not attend his inauguration ceremony, he should not be able to take power and a new election should be implemented. That push, however, was shot down by the country’s high court.
Chavez has not been seen in public since he went to a hospital in Cuba to get cancer treatment. A photo of him with his two daughters surfaced a few weeks ago just before he returned to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. But he has not been seen since.
The government has said that Chavez is currently breathing through a tracheal tube following a respiratory infection at a military hospital, reported AP.
Thousands of people wearing red rallied in Caracas on Wednesday to support Chavez, reported AFP. The rally was sparked over speculation on Twitter and in other places that the president died. On Wednesday CNN Chile reported that Chavez had died, citing statements made by Panamanian lawyer, who was the Panama ambassador to the Organization of American States.
A group of a few dozen university students chained themselves together in the middle of a street in Caracas, protesting the way the government is handling Chavez’s health situation.
“We are convinced that Maduro is lying,” said 30-year-old Villca Fernandez, a student at Los Andes University, according to AFP.
Pollster Luis Vicente Leon said that in a recent survey, nearly 58 percent believed that Chavez would recover, while 30 percent say he will not return to power, reported AP. More than 12 percent said they don’t know what will happen.
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