More lies and rumors in Venezuela
The Hugo Chávez saga keeps chugging along. He says there is a good chance the lesion is malignant and is going to Havana because "allá [en Cuba] hay más seguridad para este tipo de operación," by which he means no information can get out.
What this also means is that Venezuelans will likely increasingly consider rumors as more reliable than government sources. The current rumor is that the "lesion" is really a rapidly growing tumor the size of a golf ball. Given experiences from past months, this might not be true but it is more likely to be true than whatever the government says.
One of Chávez's problems is that, despite efforts to stifle it, the opposition press is alive and well in Venezuela. In Cuba, this isn't a problem for the government. Unlike with Chávez, the vast majority of rumors about Fidel Castro's health have been wrong. In Venezuela there are too many leaks to plug, so Chávez tries to follow a Cuban model of secrecy that does not fit his country.
The end result is confusion and distrust, which is exactly what the country does not need at the moment.
2 comments:
One more good one. Communications Minister Izarra says that they had to cover up Chavez's whereabouts and condition over the weekend because they didn't want to interrupt or ruin the Carnival festivities.
Yes, you'd think at least they would try to think up reasonably plausible lies.
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