Venezuela signals a delay in Chavez swearing-in
5 January AFP
Venezuela signaled Friday that cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez
will be unable to be sworn in to a new term next week, laying out a
legal rationale for delaying the oath-taking ceremony.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro said the ailing leader could take the
oath of office at some later date before the Supreme Court without
giving up the presidency in the interim.
With a pocket-sized constitution in hand, Maduro argued that the
charter provides "a dynamic flexibility" that guarantees that Chavez's
re-election will be respected.
He vehemently rejected the opposition's insistence that if Chavez is
prevented by ill health from taking the oath of office on schedule
January 10 he must at least temporarily give up the presidency to the
speaker of the National Assembly.
Under Venezuela's constitution, new elections must be held within 30
days if the president dies or is permanently incapacitated either before
he takes office or in the first four years of his six year term.
Chavez, 58, underwent his fourth round of surgery more than four
weeks ago and has developed a "severe pulmonary infection" that has
raised doubts about his fitness to continue serving.He has not been seen
in public in nearly four weeks, and only his family, a handful of senior
officials and his Cuban medical team are known to have seen him as he
battles to regain his health in a Havana hospital.
Close allies like Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, have expressed
concern over his health and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sent an
envoy to Havana to inquire about his condition, a source in the
Brazilian presidency said Friday. Before leaving for Cuba, Chavez named
Maduro as his political successor, but there have been persistent rumors
of a struggle between him and National Assembly speaker Diosdado
Cabello, a former military officer. Upon their return from Havana, both
men went out of their way to deny the rumors and to vow to remain
united.
The National Assembly meets Saturday to elect its leadership in a key
test for the regime. Cabello was expected to be re-elected, but his
failure to keep the post would revive the perception of an internal
split. In convening the session, Cabello called on Chavez supporters to
rally outside the parliament in a show of support.The closing of ranks
comes amid a surge of demands on social networks and by opposition
leaders for more detailed information from doctors about Chavez's
condition.
"The official version of what is happening is unsustainable," the
head of the main opposition coalition, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, said in
an interview with AFP and digital news outlet Noticias24.Aveledo said it
would make more sense for the government to acknowledge "the truth" and
use it to prepare the country for what is to come. But it "doesn't want
to admit that the president is absent." Information Minister Ernesto
Villegas disclosed that Chavez, who was convalescing in Havana after a
fourth round of surgery last month, was suffering from a "severe
pulmonary infection" that had led to a "respiratory insufficiency." He
also accused the international media of waging a "psychological war" to
destabilize Venezuela and finish off its socialist revolution.
Maduro returned to that theme Friday night in a televised "interview"
conducted by the information minister and aired on state television,
accusingopposition leaders of seeking different paths toward a coup.
In Washington on Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria
Nuland denied that US officials were meddling in Venezuelan affairs, but
acknowledged there had been contact with Venezuelans "from across the
political spectrum."
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