Chavez cancer risk not life threatening: Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — Even in death, Hugo Chavez’s orders are being followed. The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists’ candidate in an election to be called within 30 days. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua confirmed that Tuesday, just hours after Maduro, tears running down his face, announced the death of Chavez, the larger-than-life former paratroop officer who had presided over Venezuela as virtually a one-man show for more than 14 years.

CARACAS — Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez slid into a coma the day before he died of respiratory failure after cancer spread into his lungs, sources say. Chavez’s precise condition was one of the world’s best-kept secrets since his cancer was announced in June 2011. Since his death this week, however, details have emerged of the 58-year-old president’s battle with cancer and the last moments in the hospital with close family and senior aides.

Sources told Spanish newspaper ABC earlier today that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is in an induced coma and being kept alive on life support in a Cuban hospital following emergency cancer surgery on December 10.

The passing away of president Chávez has important implications ranging from the political spectrum to the economical spectrum. These implications will be crucial in assessments of the future of the country. Stratfor's Karen Hooper provides a succinct summary of the short-term (who will be the interim president until new elections take place?

HandoutsThe fake image (left) and the original image (right) showing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hugging Hugo Chavez's mother.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed confidence he would make a full recovery after having a malign cancerous tumor removed and vowed to focus on battling the disease.Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal in the United States reported Chavez appears to be suffering from colon cancer, citing two sources with close knowledge of his condition.A week after his condition was announced, after a weeks-long stay in Cuba, Venezuelan officials have yet to confirm the type of cancer the leftist leader has, or whether he was undergoing chemotherapy to treat it.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez admitted to having undergone an operation that removed a cancerous tumor, in his first televised address since he was rushed to hospital in Cuba on June 10."Studies confirmed the existence of a tumor with cancerous cells," Chavez admitted in an emotional late night address broadcast in Venezuela, where he expressed hope for a full recovery.

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez is breathing with greater difficulty as a new and severe respiratory infection has taken hold, Venezuela’s government said, describing the cancer-stricken president’s condition as “very delicate.” A brief statement read on national television by Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas late Monday carried the sobering news about the charismatic 58-year-old socialist leader’s deteriorating health.