The Real News network's excellent report on the Chavez health crisis in Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

4. Google translation: Marco Aurélio Garcia: Brazil supports extend deadline for possession of Chávez

Marco Aurélio Garcia: Brazil supports extend deadline for possession of Chávez

International adviser Presidency was recently in Havana, Cuba, for determination of President Dilma Rousseff to inquire about the health of Venezuelan leader

January 7, 2013 | 20h 13

BRASILIA - The international adviser of the Presidency, Marco Aurelio Garcia, said it was "serious" health status of the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. Garcia was recently in Havana, Cuba, for determination of President Dilma Rousseff to inquire about the health of Chavez. The visit took place on December 31 and January 1, but Garcia was not personally with Chávez, but with Fidel Castro and Raul Castro, and Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro.

In his remarks, Garcia made it clear that the Brazilian government supports the idea of ​​extending for up to 180 days the period for possession of Hugo Chavez. Garcia cited Article 234 of the Constitution of Venezuela to explain that if Chavez does not take on the 10th of January, new elections will be called hence the 30 days if the impediment of the current president is final. But if the impediment is temporary, this situation can be extended for six months, 90 days, extendable for another 90 days. He points out that there is a gap in interpreting the law, but the assessment is that, in this case, who assumes is the Vice President Maduro.

"The information I got is that his condition is serious and that, therefore, any prediction is impossible to be done at this time," said Garcia. He reported that Chávez was lucid, "Chavez was very weak, yet conscious."

The aide Dilma rejected any possibility of coup in the country and said that the extension of time to wait for the recovery of Chavez is not a governing strategy, but a fulfillment of the Constitution. He also rejected any comparison of the Venezuelan situation with the case of Paraguay, a country that has just kicked Mercosur because the bloc's members felt that there was no time for former President Fernando Lugo, who was impeached, defend himself of the charges, considering the coup maneuver Federico Franco, who took power.

http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/nacional,marco-aurelio-garcia-brasil-apoia-prorrogar-prazo-para-posse-de-chavez,981574,0.htm

(Short article, no more at link.)