Latin America
Related: About this forumChavez absent as team oils campaign machine
In a crowded square of the biggest shantytown in Caracas, President Hugo Chavez's reelection campaign wheels are spinning. But a bit like a movie missing its star, the president is not on the trail.
Aides to the flamboyant Chavez -- Latin America's most prominent leftist leader, who is seeking reelection to a third consecutive six-year term -- insist that any talk of replacing him is a non-starter.
The former paratrooper has stayed largely out of public view for several recent weeks as he recovers from cancer treatment.
Chavez, who before his illness dominated national airwaves for hours on end, sometimes speaking and even singing on state media almost around the clock, has become conspicuous in his relative absence ahead of the October 7 election. The silence has fueled speculation, rumors and doubts.
More at:http://news.yahoo.com/chavez-absent-team-oils-campaign-machine-190600578.html
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)...you really never know in these situation,
MADem
(135,425 posts)I have no idea how good it is, but a quick Google shows Rather being cited along with other sources in other reports as well.
http://transitions.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/06/04/a_report_by_dan_rather_fires_up_the_caracas_rumor_mill
At this late stage of the game, with Chávez mostly avoiding public appearances and rarely shown on state TV anymore, the question of his succession remains wide open. The current vice-president, left-wing extremist Elías Jaua, is widely seen as something of a lightweight, and Chávez himself announced some months ago that he would be replaced. But Rather's report leaves open the unsettling possibility that the big guy could leave the scene without leaving a clear successor in place.
Already, a few days earlier, posters had gone up around a key Caracas thoroughfare proclaiming "Diosdado Presidente!" Adorned with a large photo of chavista National Assembly Chairman Diosdado Cabello, they looked like a dirty trick played by one of Cabello's rivals to make him appear rather too eager for the job. (Cabello immediately distanced himself from the posters.) Whether the posters came from inside or outside the Chávez movement, no one can tell at this point.
Though clearly a leading contender for the top job, Diosdado (as he is universally known) would be a controversial pick. A one-time army man who collaborated with Chávez's 1992 coup attempt, he's widely rumored to have amassed a huge fortune through various front men. His deep military ties and penchant for controlling large swathes of the economy have earned him a reputation for corruption and ideological flexibility that's anathema to the president's more left-wing, Cuban-tinged, civilian supporters. They're pushing, instead, to have Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro anointed as the successor. Maduro, widely seen as the Cubans' favored candidate, is an old-style communist who rose through the ranks of the union movement and has little in common with the more profit-oriented strongmen such as Cabello. While a half-dozen other figures would also clearly love the job, the gossip increasingly pegs Maduro and Cabello as the strongest contenders....
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)succombs to cancer?
Zorro
(15,749 posts)"Chavez, 57, has until June 11 to register as a presidential candidate formally -- and has not said when he will do so."
That's one week away.