Excerpts of column "Runrunes" (Rumors) released on May 24

NELSON BOCARANDA SARDI | EL UNIVERSAL

Friday May 25, 2012 01:21 PM

High

THE PATIENT. His reappearance live after 11 days in complete rest revived any sort of speculations with the most popular being again the doubts, among both his followers and opponents, about the disease suffered by him for more than one year. On May 18, we posted on runrun.es that he would show up on May 22. The initial intention was administering oath to the State Council. However, he notified its members that he did not feel good, that it would be sometime else. He had secretly decided, catching his supporters unawares, on the live broadcast, with remote comments, of the ministerial cabinet. He felt that the ceremony of the State Council would fuel the assumption that he would step down and was making provision with a transition team. For this reason, he opted for the ministerial council. Judging by the contrite look of his collaborators, one could infer who knew the truth, namely: (Minister of Planning and Finance Jorge) Giordani, with his eyes filled with tears; (Vice-president Elías) Jaua, (Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás) Maduro, (ex Vice-president José Vicente) Rangel, (Minister of Science and Technology Jorge) Arreaza, (Minister of the Interior and Justice Tarek) el-Aissami, (Minister of Health Eugenia) Sader, and (Minister of Industry Ricardo) Menéndez. They gave him a sheet of paper suggesting him to make funny comments to liven up. In this way, he masked his inner plight. The patient ended the obligatory simultaneous broadcast without standing up. The speech was supposed to last about 40 minutes. Nevertheless, feeling so good, he took more that two hours. He will rest until next week. For events like this he must prepare and regain strength. He announced that he has no plans to return to Cuba in the near future. Everything will depend on how he feels. He ought to enroll at the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the presidential election. Will the CNE go to Miraflores (the seat of Venezuela s Executive Power)? Everything is possible.

www.runrun.es

@nelsonbocaranda

Translated by Conchita Delgado

Dossier

The dialogue experience

José Vicente Rangel clearly said: "We are not conducting negotiations threatened with a gun in the head." He warned behind closed doors in the midst of the social upheaval occurred during the oil strike in 2002 and 2003. Dissenting Timoteo Zambrano answered back that no other option was available: "The thing is that otherwise, you do not negotiate."

Ranking