MEXICO, March 2 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro demanded on Friday that media cease rumors about the health of the country’s cancer-stricken president, Latin American media reported on Friday.
“Stop those attacks on our Commander, stop disseminating rumors, stop taking advantage of this situation, which is too delicate for anyone’s attempts to destabilize the current state of affairs,” Maduro said.
He accused Colombian and Spanish media outlets of “lying to the country and the world.”
Hugo Chavez, fighting a prolonged battle with cancer, has not been seen or heard for more than two months, apart from several proof-of-life photos showing him in a hospital bed. Little is known from official sources, apart from reports that Chavez has suffered respiratory problems after the surgery.
Colombian TV channel NTN24 quoted Panama's former Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) Guillermo Cochez as saying that Chavez's brain died on December 30 and that he has already been disconnected from life supporting equipment.
Spanish newspaper ABC made a different claim late on Tuesday, saying that Chavez has been transferred to a remote Caribbean island, where he will spend his last days with his family, because doctors have lost all hope to cure him.
