Chavez tells of surgery to remove cancerous tumour

[AlabamaLibrul]

Source: BBC News

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has revealed he has had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, in his first speech since flying to Cuba for treatment.

Speculation about his health had been rife since he left Venezuela three weeks ago for what officials said was an operation on a pelvic abscess.

Mr Chavez said he was determined to overcome his health battle and was now on the road to "full recovery".

His absence forced Venezuela to put off a regional meeting on Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13986092

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. I don't wish death by cancer on anyone regardless of political views. n/t

[virgogal]

2. + 1

[iwishiwas]

22. +1..

[Name removed]

52. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ej510]

3. Hugo get help my fellow African brother.

Keep helping your people. Keeping fighting U.S. tyranny.

[medeak]

7. US tyranny?

son writes for Columbian newspaper...Columbia totally corrupt by one family but so is Venezuela. Son was fan of Chavez until living in S. America

[EFerrari]

11. You remember the US sponsored coup attempt in 2002

And today, there was this from cable gate:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1391441

[Plucketeer]

4. Whoa!

So.... what WILL they put inside his cranium to keep it from collapsing???

[jtuck004]

5. How'd he get Dick Cheney in his head? n/t

[joshcryer]

6. Stratfor got it right?

[Matilda]

8. What it has shown -

or should show to Chavez and his government - is that it's essential to have a plan for transfer of power should anything else happen to him.

The right-wing were able to capitalise on the apparent vacuum caused by his non-appearance for a week, when insteead there should have just been a quick, if temporary, transfer of power to a deputy.

And perhaps just a little more transparency – it's usually better to tell the truth than have rumours about possible death floating around. The government looked extremely vulnerable for a while there, and I don't doubt that many people on both sides of politics will be wondering just how well Chavez really is.

[joshcryer]

9. Reports are playing it much differently. Aden's statements along with other party conflicts...

...are implying that the party is having its own internal struggle.

If it gets worse expect democracy in Venezuela to disappear rapidly to be replaced by a police state.

I hope Obama stays out of it in that event.

[EFerrari]

10. There will always be vicious rumors about Chavez no matter what he does

because our government and the Venezuelan oligarchy hate him.

There was nothing, nada, nadita untoward about how this was handled. Nor is there any reason to believe there is no plan for a transfer of power. Venezuela has a constitution, it is not the wild. And, btw, FDR was out for months at a time but there was no United States to circulate ugly rumors about him.

[rabs]

12. Did you notice this ...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has revealed he has had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, in his first speech SINCE FLYING TO CUBA FOR TREATMENT.

(caps mine to highlight)

----------------

Sure BBC, Chavez took the touristy route; he flew to Cuba for treatment first via Brasilia and then Quito !

BBC sucks.

[EFerrari]

13. I didn't and you're right. We're up to our eyeballs in bs. n/t

[trud]

15. rabs

Yeah, the MSM is beyond hope.

I posted another photo on the earlier Chavez thread when it was just announced CELAC was being postponed, don't know if this was before or after surgery. I wish Chavez good health and a speedy recovery.



The al Jazeera article said there was apparently post-surgery video.

[joshcryer]

14. A president disappears for two weeks without one word on his condition is not untoward?

:rofl:

[Matilda]

16. There were some untruths.

The biggie was that he was operated on for a pelvic abscess - that's very different to a cancerous tumour.

While abscesses can apparently get quite nasty, it's normally a straightforward procedure, but when Chavez didn't surface for over a fortnight, the rumous began to fly, and of course, they were even worse than the truth would have been.

No, I don't think it was handled well. It's better to say that somebody is facing a major operation than tell a lie and then have others saying he's dead. This is a bit reminiscent of the old Soviet Union and other autocratic governments, where lies are often told about a leader's demise while successors are jockeying for power.

And the deputy should officially take over the moment he's off Venezuelan soil, and then there is no problem about who's in charge - or whether anybody is.

[EFerrari]

17. According to his statement today, there were two procedures.

The tumor wasn't discovered until the abscess was cleared. Did you miss that? Maybe listen to it before you accuse him of lying or otherwise characterize negatively a situation you are unfamiliar with.

And there was no reason for anyone to "take over" anything. Venezuela is not a schoolyard and there was no problem about who was in charge except in the right wing media.

[Matilda]

20. I didn't say he was lying,

but let's say they were economical with the truth. Took nearly three weeks for details of the second operation to be released.

And in Australia, probably more politically advanced than many other countries, the Deputy Prime Minister becomes the leader the moment the Prime Minister leaves Australian soil. He/she has complete reponsibility from that time until the PM returns. It works bloody well too, and other countries could perhaps learn from us.

[EFerrari]

30. What is the problem here.

There was never any crisis in Venezuela. There was the usual wingnut yapping.

It took three whole weeks to get the details on the second surgery? So what? Was there some kind of deadline missed? No, there wasn't.

[Bacchus39]

35. there is a prison crisis, doctors are on strike, violence crisis, corruption crisis, food crisis,

energy crisis, inflation crisis, and a government credibility crisis. other than that all is well.

[EFerrari]

38. And I can go over to Sludge and find the same description of America

under Obama.

[Bacchus39]

41. no-one is preventing you from visiting that site if that is your druthers

you adore Chavez. I don't.

[MADem]

51. Well, other news agencies were saying "cancer" around the time of the first procedure, so who knows?

I think he played fast and loose with the truth, myself.

Most nations, when the leader goes under the knife and anaesthesia, have procedures in place for Number Two to take over until Number One is well again. I should think with the Fearless Leader leaving the friken country, that might not be a bad idea. But hey, whatever.

[Judi Lynn]

21. For the same reasons, Venesuela has a Vice-President, like the U.S.

Whoever gave you the idea the people in the Venezuelan government were just standing around with their thumbs up their butts?

Please!

[Bacchus39]

23. agreed n/t

s

[hack89]

27. Nothing untoward? It was straight from the Soviet Union playbook for sick leaders. nt

[EFerrari]

29. LOL. Grover Cleveland had a tumor removed from his mouth

had his whole jaw reconstructed, ruined the reporter who put it out and never in his lifetime admitted it.

You crack me up.

[Bacchus39]

36. of course, the Grover Cleveland defense. that should shut everyone up

lol

[EFerrari]

37. What it shows is that people don't even know their own history

let alone, possess the ability to compare our system with any other and find the other lacking.

But thank you for your always thoughtful contributions to these discussions. :)

[Bacchus39]

40. times have changed over the last 100+ years, in many places at least n/t

s

[trud]

45. Bacchus39

Try the Woodrow Wilson defense.

[hack89]

39. Another secretive, authoritarian leader?

Don't you think expectation have changed in the past 100 years or do you support the idea of secretive autocratic leaders who abhorred the idea of openness?

Do you really want to compare Chavez with Cleveland?

[EFerrari]

42. FDR, JFK, Reagan all had health issues that they didn't make public

the second they found out about them. Are they also in the Soviet mold?

lol

Secretive authoritarian leader, my @ss. The only thing going on here is the right wing nuttery is doing what it always does, trying to find a hook to hang their hat.

[hack89]

43. And it was wrong. nt

[Leontius]

26. When you have lead a coup in the past the last thing you

would want to consider is a transfer of power I would think.

[Dappleganger]

31. This incident illustrates his hubris...

a common ailment among leaders. Type-A personality...

[EFerrari]

34. We know what his hubris was and it has nothing to do with surgery.

He turned the economic hitmen out of Venezuela and survived the attempt to oust him.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Hugo Chávez tells of cancer diagnosis

Hugo Chávez tells of cancer diagnosis
Venezuelan president describes surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, in his first television address since flying to Cuba
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro and Virginia Lopez in Caracas
guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 July 2011 04.27 BST

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, has finally returned to the public eye, describing in a nationwide address that doctors had diagnosed him with cancer, following furious speculation about the true state of his health.

In his first live appearance since undergoing emergency pelvic surgery in Cuba on 10 June, Chávez said doctors had removed "cancerous cells" from his body. "This the new battle that life has placed before us," he said.

Flanked by a Venezuelan flag and a portrait of Simón Bolívar, the South American liberator, Chávez said he had committed a "fundamental mistake" in not taking better care of his own health.

"I neglected my health and I was reluctant to have medical check ups. It was a fundamental mistake for a revolutionary," he said, directing his speech "to the Venezuelan people and the international public opinion".

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/01/hugo-chavez-cancer-diagnosis

[Judi Lynn]

19. Here's the English version of his speech from Havana 6-30-2011

as published in a virulently anti-Chavez newspaper, El Universal:

President Chávez's address to the Nation
http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/07/01/president-chavezs-address-to-the-nation.shtml

[robcon]

24. Vague diagnosis and vague prognosis.

Other than that a good speech.

[slackmaster]

25. It's all CIA lies!

[blueclown]

28. Why didn't he fly to the U.S. for emergency medical treatment?

The right-wing cons told me that the U.S. is the only place where you can get effective, major emergency medical treatment. Not (evil) socialist Cuba.

[slackmaster]

32. He'd be at risk of getting arrested if he came here

:hi:

[okasha]

33. Or worse.

n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

49. really? Arrested for what exactly?

[hack89]

44. The elite get everything they need in Cuba

the poor not so much.

[JoeyT]

46. Unlike here, where the poor are well taken care of.

Good thing no one here has to fear poverty, malnutrition, or lack of access to medical care.

Perhaps you'd care to donate that beam in your eye to building houses for the poor in Cuba, since they have it so much worse than ours.

[hack89]

47. Our elite doesn't lie to us about it. nt

[JoeyT]

48. No, our elite just demonizes our poor.

To the point where half our population are absolutely convinced that they'd be eating off solid gold plates while riding in their stretch hummer to the airport where their private jet is parked if only those dirty poor people would stop stealing all their money.

Well, actually they do kind of lie to us. Women on welfare riding in luxury vehicles! If you need care you can just go to an emergency room! People on public assistance live better than people making $60k a year!

[murphyj87]

50. He has a far better chance of survival ...

He has a far better chance of survival with Cuban health care than he would have with American health care (although both trail Canada by about 10 spots). Cuba ranks above the United States in health care, and my cousin set up the EMS system in Cuba, and is now teaching Americans Anaesthesia, Emergency Medicine and Difficult Airway Management, and American physicians are paying thousands of dollars for a weekend of his lectures and demonstrations.