Chávez's real health condition unknown after a year of illness

"With the invaluable support of Fidel (Castro), Raúl (Castro) and the excellent health care system of the Republic of Cuba, diagnostic tests were run, and a pelvic abscess was found, and President Hugo Chávez made the decision to undergo a corrective surgical procedure immediately," said Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro on June 10, 2011. With this statement, Venezuelans knew the first presidential health diagnosis.

Twenty days later, Chávez confirmed in Havana "the existence of an abscessed tumor with cancerous cells." The Venezuelan Head of State, however, did not say where the tumor was located, or the type of cancer.

Eleven months later, there is still no official word on the real health condition of the Venezuelan president. This has triggered a wave of rumors and unofficial reports ranging from the serious condition of Chávez to an invention of the Cuban intelligence to maintain his popularity ahead of the presidential elections to be held on October 7.

According to social psychologist Axel Capriles, "totalitarian governments hide the illness of their leaders... The weakness of the president is the weakness of the government and of the whole revolution ... Therefore, they are obliged to hide it completely," he concluded.