'Don't take me yet,' ailing Chavez begs God at mass

[bemildred]

Well, it is AP, but wow.

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A day after arriving home from Cuba where he is undergoing a second round of radiation for recurrence of cancer he said he thought he had beaten, Chavez attended Holy (Maundy) Thursday mass in his home state of Barinas, and let loose an emotional public appeal to the heavens.

Flanked by family members in his political home, Chavez, 57, wore a rosary around his neck, and with his voice breaking, asked God: "Please don't take me yet.

"Give me your crown of thorns, Christ, I will bleed; Give me your cross, 100 crosses -- and I will carry them for you. But give me lfe, because I still have things to do for my people and my country."

After more than a year of confident words from the gregarious and tough-talking president, it was a stunning turning of the political page: Chavez acknowledged the possibility of a future without him.

"In that extremely moving moment, he has acknowledged there is a chance he will be leaving the political arena," sociologist Carlos Raul Hernandez of the Central University of Venezuela told AFP. "He was in an emotionally desperate state."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jhxB-YmBc6zKII-dWZK-kzadfOcw?docId=CNG.285f24eed3b61dbbd13544ddc9529fe3.4c1

I think he's toast, which may please some, but does not please me. However, I think he would do better to prepare himself. He has had an excellent and long run, he has been given much, and the future does not depend only on him. Not everybody gets to be Fidel.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Drama Queen. I would have expected that of *.

[Warpy]

2. Your words at the end are wise ones

He'd do a lot for his country by grooming a successor and stepping aside.

With luck, his successor would be too wise to cozy up to nutjobs like Ahmedinejab just because of a mutual hatred of Washington.

[EFerrari]

4. And that is all an artefact of our media.

Why don't we know the names of other politicians in Venezuela?

And the BRIC countries support each other for a reason. It has nothing to do with Chavez as an individual supporting the Iranian president, but with the leader of Venezuela countering American hegemony.

It had nothing to do with hatred at all. It's politics.

[Bacchus4.0]

13. BRIC???? Brazil, Russia, India, and China. not Venezuela, not Iran

there is no particular reason for Chavez to support the government of Iran. they have mutual interest in oil production but that is about it.

and those who look for news at least know Capriles. US media isn't going to tell you much about South America. there are numerous internet sites available in English and Spanish that will though, not to mention Spanish language television.

[EFerrari]

16. Nope. BRIC and the unaligned nations have an interest

in influencing the media, too, just as the empire does.

As to the rest of your post, it has nothing to do with my reply to Warpy. Chavez is represented here as if he is the only member of the Venezuelan government and the only politician in his party and that is purposeful.

[Bacchus4.0]

17. only you made the association of Venezuela and Iran and BRIC

BRIC is not the name of the non-aligned nations.

lol

[EFerrari]

18. That's right. BRIC is not the name

of the non-aligned natons and yes, I did make that association because they back each other up when they need to.

But thank you for your usual informed commentary.

[Bacchus4.0]

20. so why did you mention BRIC? you make no sense

and it is all about Chavez making nice with the Iranian nut to spite the US.

[naaman fletcher]

22. Have Brazil and Indian been backing Iran?

Perhaps, I just haven't heard it.

[ChangoLoa]

14. The whole system was built as an inverted pyramid

Hardcore nationalists, social coservatives (the ones who got the Simpsons and Family Guy* banned from TV channels), the military and radical revolutionaries gather under the composite banner of chavismo.

*The dog in the cartoon talked about the legalization of marihuana
Venezuela bans Family Guy cartoon
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8277129.stm

Prohíbe Venezuela ver ‘Los Simpson’
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/espectaculos/82498.html

[EFerrari]

3. Cancer is again very personal to me. Someone I love very much

had their cancer spread to multiple locations in their brain. It won't end well.

I expect Chavez to keep sounding like himself when he speaks. After all he has been through, that's okay with me.

Not really enjoying this part of things when my mentors die and when disease claims peers and leaders I support.

[bemildred]

5. Me too, and more than one.

That's part of why I think he's toast. I've been leaning that way a while now, but didn't want to be discouraging.

[bemildred]

6. I'm kind of wondering how this will affect the elections too.

As I suppose a great many others are now.

[EFerrari]

7. The election is six months away.

At this point, I don't even know how to measure that.

[bemildred]

8. Yah.

We might start to see things happen now though. The subject is on the table, so people will be making their moves.

[ChangoLoa]

15. That's precisely what we worry about.

The Constitution is perfectly clear, though. Even if Chavez 18 month-decree powers* give him the "right" to change it.

*Remember? The ones the former Assembly gave him during its last week of exercise, cancelling the people's vote result which had made it impossible for him to use the decree powers for the 2010-12 period (not enough chavista deputies were elected). But again, that was because of the flood, as they said. It's just curious how 9 out of 10 laws have absolutely nothing to do with flooding-related issues. 18 months. Ends next june.

[Bacchus4.0]

19. it already has, there were moved up two months

I believe only a Chavez victory would be recognized. however, if Hugo croaks beforehand it will really be precarious. I tend to think the elections would be suspended.

[bemildred]

21. I think that would cause trouble.

Chavez should look to a successor while he is still up to it. Then you would at least have two viable candidates representing the opposing points of view. If he stays in, his health is going to be a big issue. It's a test of his leadership, in my view. I am interested to see what he does.

[Ken Burch]

23. So sorry to hear of that person's suffering and the grief it is causing you.

[naaman fletcher]

9. Is this then

an acknowledgement that he is in fact seriously ill? A few months ago when it was reported that he was seriously ill people were scoffed at because, after all, Chavez said he was cured.

[bemildred]

10. I took it that way.

Certainly other possibilities. He is, after all, in politics.

[Marksman_91]

11. First thing's first: I'm Venezuelan...

and I don't feel sorry for him. Death is the only sure way that this asshole will leave my country. Even if Chávez survives but Capriles wins fair and square, the Comandante is simply not going to let go of his power. He will start a civil war if he has to. He's already responsible for several deaths back in '92 when he unsuccesfully committed that coup-d'etat. What's to say he won't hesitate to take some more lives to stay as president? He's already shown his intentions by arming up his private militias and buying military hardware for God-knows-what (except to protect his own goddamn skin). The man has done more than enough damage to my country, and now he's going to pay the ultimate price for it.

[Ken Burch]

24. Capriles has nothing better to offer.

The last thing you need is the gringo corporations coming back and throwing their weight around. That is NEVER good for the poor and the workers.

[Daniel537]

12. Oh that fabulous free Cuban health care system.

Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.