Letter Said to Be Chávez’s Is Read at Meeting
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Version 0 of 1. CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s vice president read an 11-page letter bearing the signature of President Hugo Chávez to a regional summit meeting on Monday, the latest effort by the government to show that its absentee leader remains in charge. For more than six weeks, Mr. Chávez has not been seen in public and his voice has not been heard in Venezuela (except for a recording of him singing the national anthem and old videotapes shown repeatedly on television). He remains hospitalized in Cuba, where he underwent cancer surgery on Dec. 11. His silence has led to widespread speculation that he may be dying or that his illness is so severe that he may not be able to function as president. But government officials who have shuttled to Cuba insist that Mr. Chávez is instructing them and is in charge. The opposition criticized the government over the weekend, after officials announced that they would read the letter from Mr. Chávez at the summit meeting. “Someone who can sign letters and crack jokes, can’t he speak to the country?” Henrique Capriles, the opposition candidate who lost to Mr. Chávez in the October election, said on Sunday, referring to recent comments by the newly appointed foreign minister, Elías Jaua, who said that he had visited Mr. Chávez and that the two had joked and laughed. Mr. Capriles, a state governor, was quoted in the newspaper El Nacional on Monday. While officials have previously delivered messages that they say came from Mr. Chávez, Monday’s letter, signed in red ink, was the longest. Vice President Nicolás Maduro read it aloud to the heads of state and other officials attending the meeting in Santiago, Chile, of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, an organization that Mr. Chávez helped found to promote regional cooperation. It excludes the United States and Canada. “As all of you know, since December of last year I am battling again for my health,” the letter said. “Because of that, these lines are a way to make myself present in this summit.” The letter included quotes from Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan independence hero whom Mr. Chávez venerates, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and other Latin American writers and historical figures. It condemned the United States trade embargo against Cuba and sided with Argentina in its dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands. Mr. Chávez said in the letter that he would be following events at the summit meeting from Havana. Television cameras showed Mr. Maduro reading the typed letter. Mr. Maduro visited Mr. Chávez in Cuba last week and said on Saturday that he had brought the letter back with him. He also said the president had sent a message to Venezuelans that he was optimistic about his medical treatment and was “holding tight to Christ and life.” Mr. Maduro has returned from other trips to Cuba with similar messages, although they have often been greeted with skepticism by the opposition. In late December, Mr. Maduro attended a military ceremony and read a five-page holiday greeting to the armed forces said to have been written by Mr. Chávez. But two days later, officials canceled New Year’s Eve celebrations in Caracas and urged people to pray for the president after announcing new health complications. Mr. Chávez was too sick to return to Venezuela to be sworn in for the new term on Jan. 10. A letter to the National Assembly informing legislators that Mr. Chávez would not attend the ceremony was signed by Mr. Maduro, prompting questions over why Mr. Chávez was unable to sign. Government officials now say Mr. Chávez’s condition is favorable, but they have declined to specify a homecoming date. |