“I call him every day to give him news, he is making great improvement,” General Carlos Mata Figueroa told state TV in the latest comment from a Chavez ally aiming to quash speculation the prolonged absence means he may be seriously sick. “He’s getting better... stronger than ever,” the minister added.
At the end of a regional tour on June 10, Chavez underwent an operation in Havana for a swelling in his pelvis and has been out of public sight since, except for one set of photos.
The government originally said he would return “in a few days”, but as time has gone by and Chavez has remained in Cuba, rumors have swirled in Venezuela that the 56-year-old former soldier may have something worse like cancer.
Total dominance
His absence has highlighted the socialist leader’s total dominance of Venezuelan politics — not to mention the air-waves — and the lack of an obvious successor. “His senior ministers look dull and slightly hapless in his absence, underling his unique political charisma,” said LatinNews, a think tank based in Britain.
