Venezuela faces uncertainty with Chavez health crisis

Chavez was re-elected on Oct. 7 despite his debilitating battle with cancer and the strongest opposition challenge yet to his 14-year rule in Venezuela, an OPEC member with the world's largest proven oil reserves.

But the government said last week that since undergoing surgery in December in Havana, the president has developed a “serious pulmonary infection” that has led to a “respiratory insufficiency.”

Under the constitution, new elections must be held within 30 days if the president dies or is permanently incapacitated either before he takes office or in the first four years of his six-year term.

And the country's main opposition coalition insists that Chavez must take at least a temporary leave if his health keeps him from taking the oath of office on Jan. 10 as established by Venezuela's constitution.

However, on Saturday, Chavez's allies staged a show of unity, re-electing the ruling party's Diosdado Cabello as parliamentary speaker.

The closing of ranks by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) came as it emerged as all but certain that illness will keep Chavez from being sworn in to a new six-year term on Thursday as scheduled.

“The president will continue being president beyond Jan. 10, nobody should have any doubt about that,” said Cabello after his election, accusing the opposition of fomenting a “coup d'etat.”

Vice President Nicolas Maduro called the swearing-in a “formality” and said he too would stay on in office without taking any oath until there was an opportunity to do so.

Cabello's re-election was intended in part to answer persistent rumors of a power struggle within the regime during Chavez's more than three-week absence, the longest stretch in his 14-year presidency.

“We will never defraud the people and we will get on our knees to defend the proposal made by comandante Chavez, I swear it,” Cabello said as he took his oath of office.

Chavez's health was invoked by both Chavistas and members of the opposition, who criticized the ruling party for refusing to engage in inclusive dialogue as the oil-rich country enters a period of high uncertainty.

“It is not only the head of state who is sick, the Republic is sick,” said opposition deputy Hiran Gaviria. “The public finances are exhausted, there are shortages, inflation, excessive indebtedness, personal insecurity.”

In a display of legislative muscle, ruling party deputies used their majority to elect an all-Chavista leadership, beginning with Cabello, a former military officer who is regarded as the country's third most powerful man.

Watching the vote and debate from the balcony of the chamber was Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor who has sought to squelch reports of a power struggle with Cabello.

Outside the National Assembly, hundreds of Chavistas, dressed in the flaming red of his socialist revolution, chanted for their cancer-stricken leader with almost religious fervor.

Chavez, 58, is recovering in Havana from his fourth and most difficult round of cancer surgery, his condition clouded by serious complications that have raised doubts about his fitness to serve.

So far, he has refused to relinquish the office, leaving Maduro in charge of running the country without transferring the full powers of the presidency.

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