Hugo Chavez hospitalized – Reporters Nepal https://nepalireporter.com Impart Educate Propel Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:28:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.6 https://nepalireporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/cropped-RN_Logo-32x32.png Hugo Chavez hospitalized – Reporters Nepal https://nepalireporter.com 32 32 Chavez’s breathing problems worsen, has severe new infection https://nepalireporter.com/2013/03/8685 https://nepalireporter.com/2013/03/8685#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:28:01 +0000 http://nepalireporter.com/?p=8685 CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s breathing problems have worsened and he is suffering from a “severe” new respiratory infection as he struggles to recover from cancer surgery, the government said in a somber medical update on Monday. The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost three months since […]]]>

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s breathing problems have worsened and he is suffering from a “severe” new respiratory infection as he struggles to recover from cancer surgery, the government said in a somber medical update on Monday.

The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost three months since undergoing the operation in Cuba. It was his fourth surgery since the disease was detected in mid-2011.

“Today there is a worsening of his respiratory function, related to his depressed immune system. There is now a new, severe infection,” Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said, reading the latest brief statement on Chavez’s condition.

Chavez made a surprise pre-dawn homecoming two weeks ago with none of the fanfare and celebration that had accompanied previous returns from treatment in Havana. The government said he is now fighting for his life at a Caracas military hospital. Armed guards are providing heavy security outside.

“The president has been receiving high-impact chemotherapy, along with other complementary treatments … his general condition continues to be very delicate,” Villegas said.

Chavez suffered multiple complications after the December 11 surgery, including unexpected bleeding and an earlier severe respiratory infection that officials said had been controlled.

The government said he had trouble speaking because he was breathing through a tracheal tube, but that he was giving orders to ministers by writing them down.

“The commander-president remains clinging to Christ and to life, conscious of the difficulties that he is facing, and complying strictly with the program designed by his medical team,” Villegas said.

Chavez had undergone several grueling rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, which at times left him bald and bloated. He twice wrongly declared himself cured.

The only sight of the former soldier since his latest operation were four photos published by the government while he was still in Havana, showing him lying in a hospital bed.

Following an emotional Mass at the military hospital on Friday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro – Chavez’s preferred successor if he is unable to carry on as president – said the president had decided for himself several days earlier that he would return to Venezuela from Cuba.

Chavez was going to begin a “tougher and more intense” phase of his treatment, Maduro said, and he wanted to be in Caracas.

CHAVEZ’S HOMECOMING

Maduro said that included chemotherapy – prompting some in the opposition to question whether chemotherapy can be successfully given to patients in such a delicate state.

The government is furious at rumors in recent days that Chavez might have died, blaming them on an opposition plot by “far-right fascists” to destabilize the OPEC nation, which boasts the world’s biggest oil reserves.

“We call on all our people to stay alert, untouched by the psychological war deployed by foreign laboratories with the corrupt Venezuelan right, seeking to generate violence as a pretext for a foreign intervention,” Villegas said.

“At this time, unity and discipline are the bases to guarantee political stability,” he said, adding that the government was accompanying Chavez’s children and other relatives in “this battle full of love and spirituality.”

Opposition leaders have accused Maduro of repeatedly lying about the president’s real condition. Several dozen anti-government student protesters have chained themselves up in public to demand proof that Chavez is alive and in Venezuela.

]]>
https://nepalireporter.com/2013/03/8685/feed 0
Venezuela says Chavez receiving chemotherapy https://nepalireporter.com/2013/03/8516 https://nepalireporter.com/2013/03/8516#respond Sat, 02 Mar 2013 06:23:42 +0000 http://nepalireporter.com/?p=8516 CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela´s government has revealed for the first time that President Hugo Chavez has been receiving chemotherapy as he “continues his battle for life” since undergoing a fourth cancer surgery in Cuba. Vice President Nicolas Maduro told reporters after a Mass for Chavez late Friday that doctors began the treatment after the socialist leader […]]]>

CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela´s government has revealed for the first time that President Hugo Chavez has been receiving chemotherapy as he “continues his battle for life” since undergoing a fourth cancer surgery in Cuba.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro told reporters after a Mass for Chavez late Friday that doctors began the treatment after the socialist leader recovered in mid-January from a respiratory infection that followed his Dec. 11 operation in Havana.

The government has said Chavez was flown back to Caracas on Feb. 18 and is at the capital´s military hospital since.

Chavez has not been seen nor heard from since going to Cuba, except for a set of “proof of life” photos released Feb. 15.

He first revealed an unspecified cancer in the pelvic region in June 2011. He reported undergoing radiation treatment and chemotherapy after earlier operations.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP´s earlier story is below.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles accused Venezuela´s government Friday of repeatedly lying about President Hugo Chavez´s condition, and said the truth will be known within days.

Capriles tweeted the claim as Vice President Nicolas Maduro assured Venezuelans on national TV that their cancer-stricken president continues a difficult and slow recovery from Dec. 11 surgery.

“We´ll see how they explain to the country in the (coming) days all the lies they´ve been telling about the president´s situation,” said Capriles, whom Chavez defeated in Oct. 7 elections.

Chavez has not been seen nor heard from since, other than in some proof-of-life photos released on Feb. 15.

The government says the socialist who has been Venezuela´s leader for more than 14 years returned from Cuba three days later and is at Caracas´ military hospital.

But it has also sent mixed signals. On Thursday, Maduro said, not for the first time, that Chavez was battling for his life.

Maduro accused opponents of spreading rumors about Chavez´ health to destabilize the nation.

The opposition says Chavez should either be sworn in or declare himself incapable and call new elections. The constitution says he should have been sworn in on Jan. 10, but Venezuela´s Supreme Court said it was OK to wait.

Maduro attacked the Spanish newspaper ABC and Colombia´s Caracol network for allegedly spreading lies about Chavez´s condition. ABC said without specifying its source that Chavez´s cancer had spread to a lung. It said he had been moved to an island compound in the Caribbean.

Chavez´s son-in-law, Science Minister Jorge Arreaza, said on state TV that Chavez continues “to fight hard and is in the military hospital, as peaceful as he could be, with his doctors, with his family.”

Arreaza is one of a small circle with access to Chavez, who the government says is battling a “respiratory deficiency” following a post-operative respiratory infection that required a tracheal tube.

Maduro blamed “the bourgeoisie,” as the Chavez government refers to its opponents, of trying to destabilize the country and demanded they “cease the rumors.”

]]>
https://nepalireporter.com/2013/03/8516/feed 0
Photos of Hugo Chavez shown after 2-month absence https://nepalireporter.com/2013/02/7701 https://nepalireporter.com/2013/02/7701#respond Sat, 16 Feb 2013 04:08:54 +0000 http://nepalireporter.com/?p=7701 CARACAS, Venezuela: The world got its first glimpse of Hugo Chavez since he underwent a fourth cancer-related surgery in Cuba more than two months ago, with photos released Friday showing the Venezuelan leader smiling alongside his daughters in Havana. Along with images of the puffy-faced Chavez came a government explanation for why no one has heard from the longtime president since his […]]]>

CARACAS, Venezuela: The world got its first glimpse of Hugo Chavez since he underwent a fourth cancer-related surgery in Cuba more than two months ago, with photos released Friday showing the Venezuelan leader smiling alongside his daughters in Havana.

Along with images of the puffy-faced Chavez came a government explanation for why no one has heard from the longtime president since his surgery: He’s breathing through a tracheal tube that makes speech difficult.

Chavez’s government described his condition as “delicate” and said he continues to undergo “vigorous treatment for his fundamental illness.”

The images and new details filled a vacuum of information about Chavez’s condition that has unleashed rampant speculation in Venezuela. Government officials say Chavez has been recovering in Cuba since his cancer surgery Dec. 11.

The four photos show Chavez reclining on what appears to be a bed, his cheeks reddish, and a blue pillow behind his head. He smiles broadly, while his daughters Rosa and Maria lean in close to him.

Three of the images show Chavez looking at Thursday’s issue of the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma, his daughters flanking him. Chavez’s son-in-law, Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, showed the photos on Venezuelan state television.

Chavez’s hasn’t been seen publicly or heard from since he left for Cuba on Dec. 10. During previous treatments in Havana, he spoke on TV or appeared in photos.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Friday that the tracheal tube makes talking difficult for Chavez.

“After two months of a complicated post-operative process, the patient remains conscious, with his intellectual functions intact, in close communication with his government team,” Villegas said, reading from a statement on television.

Villegas reiterated that Chavez has overcome a respiratory infection that arose after the surgery, “although a certain degree of (breathing) insufficiency persists.”

“Given that circumstance, which is being duly treated, Comandante Chavez is currently breathing through a tracheal cannula, which temporarily hinders speech,” Villegas said.

Villegas also said Chavez’s doctors are “applying vigorous treatment for his fundamental illness,” an apparent reference to cancer. He said that treatment “isn’t free of complications.”

Government opponents have been demanding more information about Chavez’s condition, and have asked why he hasn’t spoken to the nation to explain his condition.

Dr. Jose Silva, a pulmonary specialist and president of the Venezuela Pulmonology Society, told The Associated Press that based on the government’s accounts, doctors must have performed a tracheotomy on Chavez, cutting an opening in his windpipe to facilitate breathing. He said he thinks Chavez is breathing with the help of a ventilator through a tube attached to his windpipe, and speculated the president’s track suit was zipped up to the neck to hide the tube.

Patients with breathing problems often require a tracheotomy to avoid damage to the vocal chords when a ventilator is used for an extended period, Silva said. “As long as he’s depending on the respirator, he can’t talk.”

Based on the government’s account and the way Chavez looked in the photos, with his head propped up on the pillow, Silva said it’s possible the president has developed severe myopathy or polyneuropathy — disorders of the muscles or nerves “that are seen in critically ill patients and that that can lead … to it taking longer than usual to be freed from ventilating support.”

Chavez has acknowledged taking steroids during earlier phases of his treatment, and their use can lead both to bloating and to other problems. Silva said steroids can be a factor in patients who develop severe disorders of the nerves or muscles.

Such ailments would explain why Chavez still needs the support of a ventilator more than two months after the surgery, Silva said. In these types of cases, he said, “the recovery takes weeks or months, and the person is incapacitated during that time.”

Dr. Carlos Castro, scientific director of the Colombian League Against Cancer in Bogota, Colombia, said it’s normal for a patient’s face to swell after being on a ventilator for a long time, though he also speculated the puffiness could be due to medications Chavez has been taking.

“They’re not telling us anything about his ‘fundamental illness,'” Castro said. “They don’t touch that subject. So, the question is: What’s happened with the cancer?”

In a downtown Caracas plaza, some cheered and clapped Friday as they watched the government broadcast replayed on a television under a tent where the president’s supporters regularly gather.

“I have prayed like you wouldn’t believe for the health of our commander president,” gushed Luisa Rodriguez, saying the pictures filled her with joy.

People bought photos of Chavez that were being sold in the square for the equivalent of $3 apiece.

Before leaving for Cuba, Chavez acknowledged there were risks and said that if his illness prevented him from staying on as president, Vice President Nicolas Maduro should run in a new election to take his place.

Maduro has traveled repeatedly to Havana in recent weeks and has shown documents he said were signed by Chavez while insisting the president remains in charge. On Wednesday, Maduro said Chavez is undergoing “extremely complex and tough” treatments, which he didn’t specify.

Arreaza on Friday described them as “palliative treatments” but didn’t give details. He said Chavez has been keeping up his spirits with “llanera” folk music playing in his room.

“He’s a fighter,” Arreaza said in a televised interview.

The 58-year-old president has been undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba on-and-off since June 2011. He has said he has had tumors removed from his pelvic region and has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Throughout the treatments, Chavez has not revealed the type of cancer or the location where tumors have been removed.

The government provided the update a day after students began protesting outside the Cuban Embassy demanding the president appear and accusing the island’s leaders of wielding undue influence in Venezuela’s affairs.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said he hopes the president recovers, but also accused the government of misleading people about the illness.

“There are some government leaders who weren’t elected and who appear every day on television with a different story,” Capriles told reporters. In a message on Twitter, he said that “several days ago the liars said they spoke with him. … Now, they say he can’t speak. They’re deceiving their own people!”

 

]]>
https://nepalireporter.com/2013/02/7701/feed 0
Chavez starting more medical treatment in Cuba https://nepalireporter.com/2013/01/6369 https://nepalireporter.com/2013/01/6369#respond Sun, 27 Jan 2013 03:16:02 +0000 http://nepalireporter.com/?p=6369 SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defeated a respiratory infection and has begun additional medical treatment in Cuba after struggling with complications following cancer surgery more than six weeks ago, a government spokesman said Saturday. Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that it remains unclear how soon Chavez could return home, and […]]]>

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defeated a respiratory infection and has begun additional medical treatment in Cuba after struggling with complications following cancer surgery more than six weeks ago, a government spokesman said Saturday.
Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that it remains unclear how soon Chavez could return home, and did not specify the kind of treatment he is receiving.
“Vice President (Nicolas) Maduro estimates that the time it could take President Chavez to return is within weeks. But we haven’t wanted to fix an exact timeframe for the president’s recuperation,” Villegas told reporters on the sidelines of a 60-nation summit in Chile.
He read a statement that went beyond past government reports in providing additional information about Chavez’s Dec. 11 surgery, but didn’t describe the newest treatment. While refusing to release many details about the president’s cancer, authorities in the past have reported on specific treatments, including radiation and chemotherapy.
“Forty-five days after carrying out a complex surgical intervention for the removal of a malignant lesion in the pelvis, with severe, acute complications, the patient’s general evolution is favorable,” Villegas said, reading the statement.
“At this time, the serious respiratory infection has been overcome, although a certain degree of respiratory deficiency persists and is being duly treated,” Villegas said.
After that improvement, Villegas said, “systemic medical treatment for the fundamental illness began to be applied as a complement to the surgery.”
Villegas also criticized Spain’s leading newspaper El Pais, which was forced to reprint its Thursday edition after discovering that its front-page exclusive photograph supposedly showing an ailing Chavez being treated in Cuba was a fake.
The newspaper apologized to its readers for the mistake and said it was investigating how the photo made its way into the paper.
“But who has apologized to Chavez or his family?” Villegas said.
“In Venezuela we’ve seen a phenomenon where even the atheists are praying for Chavez,” he said. “In Uruguay, President Mujica, who’s not a believer, organized a Mass and prayed for Chavez.”
Chavez hasn’t appeared or spoken publicly since before the operation.
Maduro said early Saturday after meeting with Chavez in Cuba that the ailing president is now “in the best moment we’ve seen him in these days of struggle” following the surgery.
Maduro spoke on state television after returning from Havana to Venezuela, and before he traveled to Chile for the summit.
“We’re taking a message prepared by the president, and we’re going to turn it over to heads of state who attend the CELAC summit. He makes fundamental proposals,” Maduro said, adding that the message was in Chavez’s handwriting.
Maduro said Chavez also sent a message for Venezuelans, including that he was “very optimistic” about his treatment. Maduro said Chavez is “hanging on to Christ and to life.”
Chavez has undergone repeated surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment for an unspecified type of pelvic cancer. He has undergone much of his treatment in Cuba.
The 58-year-old president won re-election in October, and lawmakers indefinitely put off his inauguration earlier this month in a decision that was condemned by opponents but upheld by the Supreme Court.
The vice president said that Chavez “has reviewed and evaluated reports on different areas and has made decisions.”
He said Chavez evaluated the country’s economic situation and budget and made decisions about gold reserves, funding for public housing projects and “social investments and economic development.” Maduro didn’t give more details but said the actions approved by the president were intended to “guarantee the country’s economic growth, infrastructure, housing.”
Maduro said that one of the documents signed by Chavez dealt with the selection of his socialist party’s candidates for mayoral elections later this year. The vice president showed the signature in red ink on one of the documents.

]]>
https://nepalireporter.com/2013/01/6369/feed 0
Absent but omnipresent, Chavez a powerful symbol https://nepalireporter.com/2013/01/6223 https://nepalireporter.com/2013/01/6223#respond Fri, 25 Jan 2013 04:27:02 +0000 http://nepalireporter.com/?p=6223 CARACAS: While Venezuela’s sick president recuperates from surgery behind closed doors in Cuba, at home he is more visible than ever. Iconic images of his eyes look out from murals lining the streets of Caracas, his portrait appears on T-shirts sported by followers, and on television he can be heard booming “I am a nation!” […]]]>

CARACAS: While Venezuela’s sick president recuperates from surgery behind closed doors in Cuba, at home he is more visible than ever. Iconic images of his eyes look out from murals lining the streets of Caracas, his portrait appears on T-shirts sported by followers, and on television he can be heard booming “I am a nation!”

Though still alive, Chavez is being inducted into a pantheon of deified legends such as Evita Peron and Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
The cult of personality that Chavez long nurtured has been flourishing with even greater force in his absence as he confronts an increasingly difficult struggle against the mysterious cancer that afflicts him.
One woman at a pro-government demonstration on Wednesday held a portrait photo of Chavez next to an image of Jesus. New murals showing only the president’s eyes have appeared on city walls along with a new slogan, “I am Chavez.”
The eyes-only design sends a message that he is always watching and still with his adoring constituents. Many credit him with easing their poverty and expanding public services. To them, it does not matter that Venezuela suffers from 20 percent inflation, that the oil-producing nation is often short on cooking oil and sugar, that it has one of the world’s highest murder rates, that the president will not divulge the details of his cancer.
“I am Chavez!” his supporters yell at the rallies in his honor. “We’re all Chavez!” the crowds shout in unison.
Filling the void of Chavez’s 6-week absence following a fourth surgery in Cuba, the government has been churning out a steady stream of emotional images, slogans and Chavez sound bites that appear poised to solidify his legacy as a messianic savior of the poor.
In newspapers, the government has been running one ad showing a photo of the president superimposed on a mosaic of smiling faces of Venezuelans: Chavez men, Chavez women and Chavez children of all ages.
Juan Pablo Lupi, a Latin American literature scholar, sees parallels with the way Evita Peron became an enduring political symbol in Argentina, and the way “Che” became a revolutionary icon after his death. In the case of Chavez, he said, “this has been very well-staged, all this process of myth-making and appealing to the feelings and religious sentiment of the people. This is something that is quasi-religious.”
Lupi, a Venezuelan associate professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, said he expects Chavismo to go on without Chavez. “The myth is already there, and all this has been very, very well-crafted.”
Connections between Chavez and Jesus are surfacing more often, and Chavez has emphasized his faith during his illness by praying to God on television for more time and repeatedly kissing a crucifix.
In one television spot, a beaming Chavez hugs children while a singer croons: “Chavez is pure and noble love.” And for block after block in downtown Caracas, lampposts are festooned with new banners showing a smiling, healthy Chavez with the words “We love you!”
Daisy Castillo, who studies law at a free university established by Chavez, joined Wednesday’s demonstration, and says she, like many other Chavistas, is praying for him.
“There has never before been a president like our Comandante Chavez,” she said.
Fidel Castro long tried to avoid the trappings of a cult of personality in Cuba, sharply limiting public presentations of his image. But there is plenty of precedent elsewhere for displays of presidential imagery, with leaders such as Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Kim Jong Il in North Korea — not to mention Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin.
In Venezuela, the relentless omnipresence of a missing leader is a way to reinforce his party, said Juan Carlos Bertorelli, creative director at a marketing company in Caracas that focuses on branding.
“Now that he’s not here physically or in voice at this time, the people who are maintaining the structure of his party,” he said, “are trying to maintain a presence that legitimizes them.”

]]>
https://nepalireporter.com/2013/01/6223/feed 0