The leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), including Venezuela's Vice President Elías Jaua, hosted a press conference to talk about the health of President Hugo Chávez. However, they did not answer key questions such as: Why do the doctors have not submitted a medical report? What disease does the president have? Does he have prostate cancer? Nor did they answer if they agreed with the remarks made by Adán Chávez, the president's older brother and governor of the southwestern state of Barinas, who did not rule out armed struggle to get access to power.

Instead, the spokesperson of the PSUV, Cilia Flores, aired a "solidarity agreement" in support of Venezuela's president health. The lawmaker said that they had previously talked on the phone with Chávez who "energetically" gave them instructions related to the party and sent congratulations to the Venezuelan journalists on their day.

Despite the congratulation to reporters, Flores termed "vampires" to journalists who repeatedly inquired about Chávez's health. "The President is quite healthy," replied PSUV leader Diosdado Cabello.

Flores insisted that the right of the president to recover must be respected. And she added that the PSUV is "united as never before."

sdiaz@eluniversal.com

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas