Uncertainty still reigns in Venezuela, as President Hugo Chavez hasn’t been seen or heard from by citizens there since Dec. 10. There is a growing unease in the nation that their leader isn’t coming back after his surgery in Cuba, although Venezuelan top officials are trying to put the best face on the crisis.
Led by Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s confidant and best friend, the government last week announced a devaluation of the nation’s currency — something that most outside observers didn’t think would happen until Chavez returned. But when they made the announcement, Venezuelan leaders insisted that the order had come directly from Chavez.
“We have taken this as a presidential order,” insisted Finance Minister Jorge Giordani. “The President is commanding and taking decisions,” added Elías Jaua, the newly appointed foreign minister.
But considering how dominant a presence Chavez, 58, has been as Venezuela’s leader, taking part in every decision, large or small, most observers have a hard time believing that he would order something as significant as devaluing the currency without making a statement or appearance from Cuba. However, many say the currency devaluation was long overdue.
On Wednesday, after Maduro returned from Cuba, he gave the most detailed update in weeks on Chavez’s condition. Maduro appeared on television to describe the post-surgery treatments Chavez is undergoing.
“You all know that we’ve gone through extremely complex moments in December, you remember, in January. Later, the whole post-operative cycle concluded. And today, our commander is receiving complementary treatments, as we have said, extremely complex and tough treatments,” Maduro said, without giving further details.
“He is carrying out, let’s say, assimilating as he would say, in the spirit of battle, but they’re complex treatments … that should at some point begin to close the cycle of treatment of his illness,” Maduro said. “We have passed along to him all the strength … and all the love of the Venezuelan people.”
Maduro said he had met with the president’s doctors and relatives and that the president’s elder brother, Adan, had also returned from Cuba to Venezuela on Wednesday.
One of Venezuela’s most intractable problems is that of murder and violent crime. With the highest murder rates in the world, Venezuela saw a mind-boggling number of homicides in 2012: more than 21,000. In addition, another 500 people were killed just in the country’s prisons. Last month, the country experienced the worst prison riot in nearly two decades.
“We want Chávez to come here to give us news,” Josefina Ramírez, 36, told a reporter from Time magazine, as she waited outside the gates of a prison in Uribana, near the city of Barquisimeto, for news of her husband who was inside.
Approximately 60 inmates were killed in the prison standoff with authorities.
“We’re suffering here, and the government is saying nothing,” she said.