CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez broke a week-long silence on Monday to deny he had left Venezuela rudderless during cancer treatment in Cuba and to promise a resounding re-election win in October.
“I’m governing – fulfilling my duties as head of state – but in this unique situation which I will be out of in the next few days,” Chavez told state TV in a brief phone call, his voice sounding firm and energetic.
“Soon I will be back there.”
Chavez’s normally ubiquitous media presence had slowed to a trickle of Tweets in recent days. He had not made any live contact with state media in the past week since a public appearance last Monday before leaving for Cuba to receive treatment.
His unusual silence had fanned opposition criticism he was no longer properly running the OPEC nation and spurred unprecedented talk of a successor to the former soldier, who during 13 years in power has avoided cultivating a protege who could replace him.
“Venezuela today is being governed via a telephone, via Twitter,” the opposition coalition’s presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, told local TV soon after Chavez’s comments.
In his half-hour telephone call, Chavez insisted he was still in charge of the government and would be back home soon to start gearing up his re-election campaign from July.
“The opposition are never going to win any elections in Venezuela, ever again, we are going to give them a resounding knockout,” he said in comments that sparked a stream of jubilant Tweets from supporters.
Chavez’s health is treated as a state secret – like that of his mentor and friend, Fidel Castro of Cuba.
The Venezuelan has had three operations since last June, including one that removed a baseball-sized tumor. But officials have refused to divulge details about his cancer.
He is supposed to have completed the last of five radiotherapy sessions in Cuba in recent days, but his uncharacteristic silence has brought speculation his condition is getting worse, possibly fatal.
One source close to the government said over the weekend that Chavez’s health has deteriorated considerably with the radiotherapy. He has been in intense pain and is unable to walk, requiring him to use a wheelchair, the source told Reuters.
“There is great anxiety over what is coming,” the source said.