VENEZUELA: Thousands jam the streets of Caracas to show support for President Hugo Chavez

Record ID: 213834

  • Title: VENEZUELA: Thousands jam the streets of Caracas to show support for President Hugo Chavez
  • Date: 10th January 2013
  • Summary: WOMAN WITH A CHAVEZ SILHOUETTE
  • Embargoed: 25th January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2SFG92T0Y9YOAC5XHG1WPSN9B
  • Story Text: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez remained on his sickbed in Cuba on Thursday (January 10) while thousands of supporters rallied in his honour on the day he should have been sworn in for a new six-year term.
    The postponement of the inauguration, a first in Venezuelan history, has exposed the gravity of Chavez's condition after complications from a fourth cancer operation in his pelvic area.
    The streets around the Miraflores Palace were a sea of red as his party faithful waved flags and banners urging Chavez a speedy recovery.
    One Chavez supporter, Margarita Rodriquez, said she was attending the rally to help give Chavez a boost.
    "To encourage him, because Chavez must come back healthy and safe, because he is the Comandante of our Fatherland. We will endure and win."
    Another Chavez supporter, Jose Camacho, said the people were with Chavez.
    "Chavez is the whole people, look at the joy of us all, the Empire will never return, Chavez, we are with you and we are here representing you, because you are us and we are you."
    The president has not been seen in public nor heard from since his surgery on Dec. 11.
    A clutch of foreign friends, including the presidents of Uruguay, Bolivia, Haiti and Nicaragua, are set to attend Thursday's events in Caracas despite Chavez's absence.
    Venezuela's opposition leaders are furious at what they see as "manipulation" of the constitution by Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, and other Chavez allies.
    Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said the opposition had no plans to risk violence by encouraging supporters to hold a counter-demonstration.
    Chavez has undergone four operations, as well as weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, since being diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in his pelvic area in June 2011.
    He looked to have staged a remarkable recovery from the illness last year, winning a new six-year term in a hard-fought election in October. But within weeks of his victory he had to return to Havana for more treatment.
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