Venezuela rebuffs 'absurd' rumours over Chavez death

Venezuelan officials and relatives of Hugo Chavez have countered a crescendo of rumours that the socialist president may be dead from cancer, saying he was still battling for his life.

"There he is, continuing his fight, his battle, and we are sure of victory!" his brother Adan Chavez, the governor of Barinas state, told cheering supporters during an event.

Speculation about Chavez, 58, has reached fever pitch this week, fed in part by assertions from Panama's former ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Guillermo Cochez, that the Venezuelan leader had died.

"The launching of absurd and bizarre rumours by the right wing simply discredits them and isolates them further from the people," said Chavez's son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, who is also Venezuela's science minister, via Twitter.

Apart from one set of photographs showing Chavez in a hospital bed, he has not been seen or heard from in public since December 11 cancer surgery in Cuba, his fourth such operation. He returned to a military hospital in Caracas last week.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, now Venezuela's de facto leader and Chavez's preferred successor, has also said several times during the week that the president was "fighting for his life" and urged Venezuelans to be patient with the situation.

"Long live Chavez! We send a hug of solidarity to our commander president," added Adan Chavez in his comments.

Opposition politicians say the government is being deceitful about the president's condition. Several dozen students have chained themselves up in public, demanding to see Chavez.

Across the nation, Venezuelans are extremely anxious, endlessly speculating over Chavez's condition and wondering what the potential end of his 14-year rule might mean for them.

HIGH STAKES

Should Chavez die or step down, an election would be held within 30 days, probably pitting Maduro against opposition leader and state governor Henrique Capriles for leadership of the OPEC member nation with the world's biggest oil reserves.

The stakes are high for the region, too, given Chavez's role as Washington's main irritant in Latin America and the aid his government gives leftist governments from Cuba to Bolivia.

Amid the flurry of rumours, Spain's ABC newspaper said on Friday (local time)  that Chavez had been taken to a presidential retreat on La Orchila island in the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast with his closest family to face the "final stages" of cancer.

Venezuelan officials have frequently lambasted ABC as being part of an "ultra-right" conspiracy spreading lies about Chavez.

Remarkably, two opinion polls this week showed that a majority of Venezuelans - 60 percent in one survey, 57 percent in another - believe Chavez will be cured.

"The prolonged absence of the president and his critical situation have not turned into massive pessimism," said one of the pollsters, Luis Vicente Leon.

Chavez's millions of passionate supporters, who love his down-to-earth style and welfare policies, are struggling to imagine a Venezuela without him.

"Of course, he's coming back, back to government," said Jose Urbina, 47, buying a set of photos of Chavez at a pro-government rally this week.

"I want to remember him, I want to put them in my house."