Hugo Chavez's condition improving: Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Hugo Chavez's condition improving: Venezuela
By Andrew Cawthorne
CARACAS | Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:34pm EST

(Reuters) - Cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's lung infection has been controlled and his medical state is improving more than a month after his latest surgery in Cuba, the government said on Sunday.

"Despite his delicate state ... in recent days the general medical evolution has been favorable," said the latest official health update, which was relatively positive compared to others but still illustrated the gravity of Chavez's situation.

"The respiratory infection is controlled, though the commander-president still requires specific measures to solve breathing insufficiency ... he is conscious."

The communique, which gave no more details on his condition, came as the three most powerful government figures after Chavez gathered in Havana to check on him and meet with Cuban allies.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/14/us-venezuela-chavez-idUSBRE90C0DU20130114?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

[MADem]

1. Translation? Out of the coma, still on the respirator?

Where's the picture of the healing leader with today's paper?

[bitchkitty]

2. Ya, they should have televised the surgery.

Because unless they tell every little detail, it's a fucking conspiracy. Everyone knows that...

[MADem]

4. Every other time he has gone to Cuba, there's been photos and videos.

No one has seen an image of this world leader in over a month.

How long would America tolerate Obama being hidden from view in a foreign country?

[bitchkitty]

5. Maybe he looks like shit.

Having pneumonia after major surgery can do major damage to one's appearance. I sure wouldn't want to have had my pictures on the web after my surgeries. I had pneumonia then too, nice big fat tracheotomy tube! Not a pretty sight, and I can imagine that it would be even less appealing an idea if you had a nation of people waiting for you.

But I'm sure that's not the reason. It's a conspiracy, bet on it. He's probably been dead for years!!!!11111!!!!

[MADem]

6. He looked like shit the last four times he went, too--that's not the issue.

He's a public figure and it's a bit late in the course of his disease to be vain. He blew up like a balloon and lost all his hair, the cancer is in his bones. Everyone knows he isn't well.

The question is, is he sentient? Or is he comatose?

Your last paragraph? You said it, not me.

Still waiting on the pic. I'll wait a while, I'm sure.

[MyNameGoesHere]

7. Demanding photos of someone suffering from a severe illness reminds me of

demanding women have a intrusive vaginal ultrasound. Creepy.

[bitchkitty]

8. I used to get creeped out too.

But it's par for the course for these guys. It's very predictable, and sometimes amusing in a dark sort of way.

[MADem]

9. Really? I think you're making a false comparison...or you're suggesting that

a public figure is equivalent to a private figure (and try letting Obama disappear for a weekend, never mind a month--there'd be outrage), along with making a very odd and provocative comparison between Chavez's visage and a private, internal part of a person that is not normally held up to view.

No one wants to x-ray the guy or stick instruments into his body for the satisfaction of anyone--they just want to see his face in a photograph, in a manner that proves he's alive, not on a respirator, and sentient.

Comparison Fail. And talk about a REACH!

[bitchkitty]

10. Not a fail, not a reach.

The comparison was apt.

[MADem]

11. If you think that, well, I'll leave it with you.

I've heard people's photos compared to many things, but that's a totally new one on me.

[MyNameGoesHere]

12. I am suggeting that what happens in VZ politics is none of your damn business

and demanding something like this is no more intelligent than diagnosing Shivo from a TV screen. It is just plain stupid.

[bitchkitty]

13. Disagree - the politics ARE our business.

But nobody deserves every little detail of the President's illness, and nobody is entitled to a photograph or "proof" that he is alive.

It's a propaganda tactic on the part of the right. They've been doing the same to Castro for years. They want the situation to look more dire than it is, so they can try to force another coup. Transparent and pathetic, but try they must! LOL

[MADem]

14. That's just....hilarious!!

What happens in the world I live in, is none of my "damn business," because an anonymous individual with an apparently volatile and excitable nature towards any remarks that differ from their own says so?

When were you crowned "The Decider?" I must have missed your inauguration--like Chavez missed his.

Sorry--logic fail.

[MyNameGoesHere]

19. Yes you can be interested or aware of world events

but making demands on another country is just more colonial bullshit. They are grownups and can manage their own politics, thank you very much.

[MADem]

20. I don't know why you're thanking me--I don't have any "colonial bullshit" on offer.

I don't seek to "manage their...politics" either (not that I have the wherewithal to do such a thing).

As a citizen of the world, I can--and will--comment on what I see happening in that country, though, thank you very much!

[Judi Lynn]

16. It's downright odd! Can't begin to grasp what kind of people are like that! n/t

[bitchkitty]

3. Excellent news! Thanks, Judi Lynn.

It will be so fun to see the celebrations when he comes home!

[Judi Lynn]

17. If he does improve he will most surely be welcomed back by the same people

who poured into the streets and surrounded Miraflores when they learned, even through the private media's complete news blackout, that the right-wing had taken charge of the nation and ordered its military to take him away at gunpoint.

The people of Venezuela who overturned that filthy maneuver by the oligarchs are the same ones who want him back now.

Those people, and the admirers of his committment, at the complete risk of assassination daily by the right-wing assholes, all are hoping he will be able to get better and take back the office they want him to head again.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Venezuelans Continue to Defy Washington Post

Venezuelans Continue to Defy Washington Post
By Peter Hart
Jan 08 2013

The Washington Post has never been fond of left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. As serious questions mount about the state of Chavez's health, the paper's editorial page (1/5/13) found it a good time to take another swipe:

Venezuelans are bracing themselves for the death of the caudillo who has ruled them–and wrecked their once-prosperous country–over the past 13 years.

Economist Mark Weisbrot has a different take. In a "Room for Debate" discussion at the New York Times (1/4/13), he writes:

Since Hugo Chávez first took office, he and his party have won 13 of 14 national elections, mainly because they greatly improved the living standards of the majority of voters in Venezuela. Since 2004, after the economy recovered from the devastating opposition oil strike, poverty has been cut by half and extreme poverty by more than 70 percent.

Weisbrot goes on to show some of the other ways Venezuelans' lives have improved in the Chavez years, adding:

These numbers are not really in dispute among economists or international statistical agencies. If you follow Venezuela and haven't heard any of this, it's because the news media is giving you the equivalent of a "tea party" view of the country.

More:
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/01/08/venezuelans-continue-to-defy-washington-post/

[Judi Lynn]

18. Hugo Chavez: Why Does He Hate Us?

Hugo Chavez: Why Does He Hate Us?
By Peter Hart
Jan 11 2013

If there's one thing media want you to know about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, it's that he doesn't like the United States. On the PBS NewsHour (1/10/13), Ray Suarez told viewers that Chavez

antagonized Washington, it seemed, whenever he could, forging friendships with Iran's Mahmoud Abbas, Syria's embattled Bashar al-Assad, and he formed an especially close bond with Cuban Presidents Fidel and Raul Castro.

On the CBS Evening News (1/8/13), Scott Pelley said: "Chavez has made a career out of bashing the United States and allied himself with Iran and Syria."

While it's hard to say Chavez has made a "career" out of U.S.-bashing–he does have, after all, a full-time job as president of Venezuela–you, too, might be excused for harboring some hard feelings towards a government that helped to try to overthrow your own. Which may be why U.S. reports rarely bring up the 2002 coup attempt–and when they do, treat Washington's involvement in it as another nutty Chavez conspiracy theory.

More:
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/01/11/hugo-chavez-why-does-he-hate-us/