SVG holds mass for Hugo Chavez

The Embassy of Venezuela held at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Kingstown on Monday a special mass dedicated to the quick recovery of ailing Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, who is recovering in Cuba from a fourth surgery for cancer.{{more}}

Caracas said on Tuesday that Chavez was in a stable condition after doctors detected and immediately treated and controlled a respiratory infection on Monday.

Chavez, 58, is being treated in Cuba and has not spoken publicly since his surgery for pelvic cancer on December 11.

“According to the doctors’ criteria, this kind of disease is one of the most frequent consequences that patients experience after having passed a complicated surgery, such as the one that President Chavez has gone through last December 11,” the Venezuelan government said in a release.

“Finally, the group of doctors has informed that President Chavez must maintain absolute rest over the coming days and rigorously receive the prescribed medical treatment, aimed at maintaining the stability of the value of his vital functions which he currently enjoys,” the statement further said.

And, a government official in Caracas on Wednesday for the first time raised the possibility that Chavez’s January 10 inauguration could be delayed, as he struggles to recover from the surgery.

Comments by Congress leader Diosdado Cabello, a close ally of the president, suggest government officials may postpone the inauguration to accommodate Chavez’s recovery, Reuters reported.

The service in Kingstown was led by Monsignor Michael Stuart and was attended by Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and family, Minister of Foreign affairs, Foreign Trade and Consumer Affairs Dr Douglas Slater, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba Pablo Rodriguez and spouse, Ambassador of Brazil Michael Gepp, Charge d’affaires of the Embassy of Venezuela Daliana Guanipa and family, former minister of culture and speaker of the OECS Assembly René Baptiste, staff of the Embassy of Venezuela, teachers and students of the Venezuelan Institute of Culture and Cooperation and Venezuelan scholarship holders, the public and the media.