CARACAS, May 11 (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
strode, sang and gave a rousing speech on Friday in a careful
show of vigor after his latest cancer treatment in Cuba fanned
rumors he was dying five months before an election.

The socialist Chavez, who had only been seen live in public
once in the previous month, addressed the nation after flying
back from Havana where he has completed six rounds of radiation
therapy.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez headed home on Friday after a series of cancer radiation treatments in Cuba to a nation fretting over his health five months before a presidential election.

Photos issued by the Venezuelan government showed Chavez smiling as he bade farewell to Cuban President Raul Castro at the airport before boarding the flight back on Friday evening.

CARACAS, May 11 (Reuters) – A veteran Venezuelan
crossword-writer has been accused of hiding a coded message to
assassinate President Hugo Chavez’s brother in the latest
surreal twist to election year politics in the South American
nation.

Neptali Segovia was interviewed by intelligence agents, his
newspaper said on Friday, after a state TV pundit said he had
disguised a message to gun down Chavez’s brother, Adan, in the
answers to various clues in a crossword this week.

CARACAS, May 10 (Reuters) – On a heady night in
mid-February, Henrique Capriles roared himself hoarse with
optimism at his victory rally in Caracas after trouncing rivals
to win the Venezuelan opposition’s presidential ticket.

Three months later, despite an exhausting “house-by-house”
tour intended to galvanize the nation behind him, Capriles
remains firmly stuck behind President Hugo Chavez in most polls.

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez broke a week-long silence on Monday to deny he had left Venezuela rudderless during his cancer treatment in Cuba and to promise a resounding re-election win in October.

“I’m governing – fulfilling my duties as head of state – but in this unique situation which I will be out of in the next few days, and then soon I will be back there,” Chavez told state TV in a brief phone call, his voice sounding firm and energetic.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s absence from the spotlight, his creation of a formal advisory committee, and media leaks of medical details are feeding speculation of a downturn in his nearly year-long battle with cancer.

With a presidential election looming for October 7 in the OPEC nation ruled by Chavez since 1999, Venezuelans are obsessively focused on his condition and fretting about the consequences of a possible succession struggle.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made his first live public appearance in two weeks on Monday to announce a new workers’ law prior to his return to Cuba for more cancer radiation therapy.

The 57-year-old socialist leader has been shuttling between Caracas and Havana for treatment on an unspecified cancer that is hampering his ability to campaign for an October 7 presidential election in the OPEC member nation.

CARTAGENA, Colombia, April 15 (Reuters) – Latin America’s
militant opposition to the decades-old U.S. isolation of
communist Cuba put more pressure on President Barack Obama at
the Americas Summit on Sunday and threatened to sink a final
declaration.

Seeking to woo a region whose trade could help create
American jobs, Obama has instead had a bruising time at the
two-day hemispheric bash attended by more than 30 heads of state
in Colombia.

CARTAGENA, Colombia, April 14 (Reuters) – A prostitution
scandal involving U.S. security personnel in Colombia threatened
on Saturday to eclipse President Barack Obama’s charm offensive
to Latin America.

In a major embarrassment for the United States at the Summit
of the Americas attended by more than 30 heads of state, 11 U.S.
Secret Service agents were sent home and five military
servicemen grounded over “misconduct” allegations in a hotel.

CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) – President Barack Obama tried on Saturday to convince sceptical Latin Americans that Washington had not turned its back on them – but a prostitution scandal involving U.S. security personnel marred the charm offensive.

Despite the host of weighty topics at the two-day Summit of the Americas in Colombia, corridor chatter revolved around a murky incident in a Cartagena hotel that led to U.S. Secret Service agents being sent home and five U.S. military members grounded.