Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez faced a second grueling day of chemotherapy treatment for cancer in Cuba Monday, but sounded upbeat in a post on the microblogging site Twitter.
"Good morning Happy World! Good morning Beautiful Venezuela!! From here, ready for another day of the battle for life. We will live and win! Love you all!!" tweeted Chavez, a frequent user of Twitter.
The leftist leader's blog showed two photos of him wearing the football jersey of the Venezuelan team, which defeated Chile 2-1 on Sunday to reach the semifinals of the Copa America in Argentina.
Chavez watched the game on television with Cuba's revolutionary icon and former leader Fidel Castro, a key ally and mentor who visited him in the medical center where he is being treated.
The polarizing 56-year-old Venezuelan leader, who underwent surgery in Cuba last month and later disclosed it was to remove some kind of cancerous growth, transferred limited powers in a bid to quell criticism from opponents back home.
"It is not time for dying; it's time to live," Chavez said in Caracas before departing Saturday.
Chavez has for the first time delegated a modicum of administrative control to his vice president, Elias Jaua, with the ability to sign his orders.
The president said he would hand over his full presidential powers to Jaua only "if I felt my abilities were impaired.
Jaua said Monday that Chavez had approved by decree a law to determine "fair" costs of goods and services and to punish price speculation with fines of more than 9,000 dollars, temporary business closures or state intervention.
The new law would go into effect on Tuesday, Jaua said, calling on the business community to help decide maximum prices for basic necessities such as food, medicine and building materials.
Chavez also issued a decree giving Finance Minister Jorge Giordani additional powers over economic issues.
The ailing Venezuelan leader was greeted warmly by Cuban President Raul Castro at Havana airport upon his arrival late Saturday. Cuba, the Americas' only one-party Communist regime, is Chavez' closest regional ally.
A photo released by official state media showed Chavez holding the hand of a young woman presumed to be his daughter Rosa.
In Caracas, Giordani said there was little doubt Chavez would maintain his plan to stand for reelection in 2012.
"I think there is no doubt that in the 2012 election the president will be present and then for many more years," the minister told state television VTV, adding that the government is functioning in Chavez's absence.
Chavez, in office since 1999, has indicated he would seek a third six-year term in 2012 and has brushed aside any notion that he would be hampered by medical issues.
© Agence France-Presse
5 Comments
Login to comment
Elbuda Mexicano
It is sad that a good dictator like Chavez is coming with cancer when if possible it would be nice for real meanies like Kim chan over in the DPRK to be struck down by lightening and/or terminal cancer from head to toe.
TheQuestion
Isn't that an oxymoron? If it jails its political opponents, shuts down dissent, and tries to make itself president for life I don't see anything good about it.
I hope Chavez recovers and has a bizarre chemotherapy induced dream that inspires him to set up a rational plan for his transition out of power rather than waiting for him to croke and having the entire nation thrown into chaos. A smooth transition to a contemporary republic or democracy would be nice. But that’s about as likely to happen as a free election in Cuba.
manta60
"But that’s about as likely to happen as a free election in Cuba." Could say the same thing about America.
Legrande
Never a cool thing to joke about someone undergoing chemotherapy, or joke that it would be funny if someone died. Naturally it would be better if a backwards country which likes spicy food undergoing chaos could change its leader tomorrow, but the drug trade-related killings would probably just continue anyway.
TheQuestion
Baseless. In the US you can vote for anybody and the vote counts but it is the perception of most people that only the two most prominent parties are capable of winning. That's no fault of the system but rather a failure of voters to realize that the lesser of two evils is still rotten at its core. Anybody can run for public office in the U.S but it's the voters who decide.
Cuba only allows pre-approved state-backed runners to enter into elections and reserves the right to replace that person should they not behave correctly.