Brazil supports Chavez swearing-in delay

Marco Aurelio Garcia, international affairs advisor of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff (file photo)

Brazil has backed the Venezuelan government’s proposed extension to the inauguration date of President Hugo Chavez.

Foreign Policy Advisor to Brazilian President, Marco Aurelio Garcia, told reporters on Tuesday that — on behalf of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff — Brazil supports the postponing of the inaugural ceremony if doctors declare Chavez unfit to attend.

Since Chavez was already president, the delay would not create “discontinuity,” in Venezuela’s leadership Garcia said.

He said the inauguration could be postponed for up to 180 days, consisting of two 90 day periods, which was “constitutional cover” if Chavez fails to show in Venezuela’s capital city Caracas on Thursday.

Venezuelan National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello on Monday said Chavez can be sworn in by the Supreme Court later, but may be healthy enough for Thursday’s ceremony.

The Venezuelan government has asked Chavez supporters to stage a giant rally in Caracas on Thursday to show support for the president’s return to office for a third term.

The Venezuelan president, much favored in the South Americas, shall receive a visit from Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Friday. Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has recently travelled to Caracas.

Chavez, who first came to power in 1999, was reelected to a new six-year term in October, 2012, however a month before the planned inauguration he underwent a fourth round of cancer surgery in Cuba’s capital Havana.

GVN/PKH