Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Sunday that President Hugo Chavez is “in a disciplined way and strictly” complying with doctors’ orders regarding the special treatment regimen he is undergoing for his cancer in Cuba.
“(H)is Cuban and Venezuelan medical team … have implemented a precise and perfect plan for fully recovering his health,” said Maduro at a public event.
Chavez is following the medical regimen so that he can return home to “govern for these six years (of his new mandate) with more strength, with more maturity, with more wisdom,” said Maduro, who is also foreign minister.
Since he won re-election for the third time on Oct. 7, Chavez has appeared in the media only at several ministerial meetings, with Nov. 15 being the last time that Venezuelans saw him on television.
Chavez traveled to Cuba last Tuesday to begin undergoing hyperbaric oxygenation treatment and physical therapy to deal with the cancer detected in June 2011 in Cuba, although the specifics of the disease have never been made public.
Maduro’s remarks came a day after the former opposition presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, said that it had been two weeks since the country had heard anything from Chavez and demanded the “most absolute transparency” from the government to avoid rumors and speculation and to ensure calm among the Venezuelan people.
Capriles also said that Venezuelans have a “right to know” the state of Chavez’s health “as one sees in other countries, such as in Argentina, in Brazil, where the presidents, when they have some difficulty with their health, are the first to report it.”
Chavez has declared himself cancer-free several times and has said that he will be back in Venezuela by Jan. 10 for his fourth inaugural ceremony. [FOX]