Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez with his two daughters in La Habana, Cuba.
Cranes tower over new apartment blocks in Venezuela’s capital where President Hugo Chavez’s government plans to house 20,000 poor families as part of a populist pre-election spending push.
Though finished, the buildings stand empty – waiting for the usual fanfare inauguration of such projects by Chavez himself.
The socialist leader is in Cuba convalescing after a third cancer surgery, so the question is when – or even if – Chavez will be strong enough to cut the ribbon.
The charismatic Chavez has been in campaign mode for most of his 13-year rule, and his signature style of personally meeting the beneficiaries of his welfare programs has helped him win re-election and extend his powers in the South American nation.
Now facing potentially debilitating radiation treatment after a second malignant tumor was removed from his pelvis, the once-inexhaustible Chavez, 57, is being forced to slow down just as he goes into what could be his toughest election yet.
«Unfortunately you are not going to see that much of me,» a reflective Chavez said from Cuba, where he is recovering from surgery late last month after a recurrence of the cancer that struck him in 2011. «I’m forced to confront this new situation, to rethink my personal agenda and take better care of myself.»
Chavez has denied rumors that his cancer has spread but if his health worsens and less-popular ministers are pushed into the spotlight on his behalf, voters will wonder if a weakened Chavez can govern for another six-year term.
Nobody, though, is writing off a man who has overcome so much in the past – U.S. opposition, massive street protests, a strike that paralyzed the oil industry and a coup that briefly toppled him from power.
With savvy use of media and the internet, and drawing on his unique emotional connection with the poor, Chavez still has a high chance of triumphing yet again if he can stay well enough.
That might mean running a «virtual» campaign largely from Caracas and making the most of any personal appearances he is able to make in slums and rural areas.
«He won’t be in physical shape to visit every corner of the country,» said Glen Martinez, who runs a pro-Chavez community radio station in a hilly neighborhood spray-painted with murals of Mexican guerrilla leader Subcomandante Marcos and of Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader toppled and killed last year.
«But it doesn’t matter, if he can’t come here, we will go to him, wherever he does show up.»
buenosairesherald.com