Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez appears to have made it through his most difficult moments and is improving after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Sunday.
Morales, a close ally of Chavez who visited him in Caracas last week, remarked on the Venezuelan leader’s health after attending Bolivia’s soccer match against Colombia at the Copa America tournament in Argentina.
“He’s very well, very well,” Morales told Colombian radio station Caracol. “He has told us it was a very difficult situation for him, but he has survived the bad moment, the worst. As always, under the control of his doctors.”
Likening the goal of Chavez’s recovery to being like a new car, Morales said: “From here on, soon President Chavez will be at zero kilometers.”
Chavez has said he underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor. His foreign minister said it was extracted from the same part of the “pelvic region” where Chavez had an abscess removed nine days earlier.
Chavez has not said what type of cancer is involved. Since his return to Chavez on July 4, he has slowed his normally heavy agenda and has limited the length of his televised speeches, saying he is under strict orders from his doctors.
Asked if Chavez appeared concerned or calm, Morales told Caracol: “No, calm, very calm ... Strengthened.”
After his initial days of recovery from the surgery, Chavez “got out of this situation,” Morales said. “For that reason, I’m very happy after seeing President Chavez.”
Morales met with Chavez during Venezuela’s bicentennial celebrations last week, along with the presidents of Paraguay and Uruguay.
Another ally of Chavez, former Venezuelan vice president Jose Vicente Rangel, said in an interview with the Colombian magazine Semana that “for the moment he’s not going to need chemo.”
“The tumor they removed was encapsulated. I know that the cancer he has is not of the colon,” Rangel was quoted as saying.
Rangel, who no longer holds a government office and now hosts a weekly TV program, did not elaborate on how he had learned about Chavez’s condition nor on what type of cancer the president has.
Chavez did not speak on his usual Sunday radio and TV program, but his Twitter account remained active with new messages.
In one, he praised a government housing program: “Social justice! This is the greatest reason of my life!”
In another, he said: “Happy Sunday to all of Venezuela! ... Here Chavez the patient! We will live and we will win!”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number