Hugo Chávez breaks silence with several tweets

Messages from Venezuelan president who has been unusually quiet since having an operation did not refer to his health Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, who has not been seen in public for two weeks, has ended his unusual silence with several Twitter messages, but said nothing about his health after an operation in Cuba. The re-emergence of the loquacious leader on the social networking site will do little to quash speculation that his prolonged absence means he may be seriously ill . Marking a public holiday celebrating a battle won against Spanish colonial forces in 1821, the president congratulated the armed forces and saluted all Venezuelans. “Today is my army’s day and the sun rose brilliantly! A huge hug to my soldiers and to my beloved people,” he wrote from Cuba on his Twitter account. “From here, I am with you in the hard work every day. Towards victory always! We are winning! We will win!” Venezuela’s defence minister said on Thursday that the president was stronger than ever but would not rush home until he was ready. At the end of a regional tour on 10 June, Chávez had an operation in Havana for a swelling in his pelvis and he has been out of public sight since, except for one set of photos. His absence has highlighted the socialist leader’s total dominance of local politics and the lack of a clear successor. The government originally said he would return “in a few day,” but as time has gone by and Chávez has stayed in Cuba, rumours have swirled in Venezuela that the 56-year-old former soldier may have something worse like cancer. Hugo Chávez Venezuela guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 24, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.