Hugo Chavez Reportedly in Critical Condition in Cuban Hospital

Miami's Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald is reporting that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez remains hospitalized in critical condition at a Cuban hospital and may be suffering from prostate cancer.

according to the report in El Nuevo Herald, Chávez finds himself in "critical condition, not grave, but critical, in a complicated situation."

The Miami newspaper cited U.S. intelligence officials who wished to remain anonymous.

Chávez silence has led to chatter and speculation in Venezuela that the socialist leader is actually suffering from prostate cancer. Intelligence officials could not confirm a diagnosis of prostate cancer but Chávez family did go to Cuba in the last 72 hours, according to wire service EFE.

Chávez daughter Rosinés and his mother Marisabel Rodríguez "urgently" left the country and headed to Cuba in a Venezuelan air force plane.

Cuba's state media website, Cubadebate, released photos on June 17 that showed Chávez posing with Fidel and Raul Castro in his hospital room. Chávez smiled for the camera in a track suit, while a frail-looking Fidel clutched Chávez arm.

Before the report that Chávez was in critical condition, his brother sought to reassure Venezuela that he was recovering well.

The questions over Chavez's long term health have led to speculation about possible successors to the presidency and criticism from opposition groups over the Chavez junta governing from abroad.

A notoriously long-winded public speaker, Chavez had been remarkably quiet this month. Chavez hadn't been seen in public since June 9th and was last heard from in a phone interview with Venezuela's state TV on June 12th. A regular user of Twitter, Chavez's account was dormant for 19 days before activity resumed.

Chavez considers Cuban dictator Fidel Castro the ideological predecessor to his regional 'Bolivar revolution' and counts Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa among his leftist allies in the region.

Volcano Eruption Prompts Evacuations in Chile, Grounds Flights in Agrentina

Francisco Negroni- AgenciaUno

Authorities on southern Chile evacuated approximately 3500 people in the Los Lagos region (approximately 600 miles South of the capital city of Santiago) after a series of earthquakes and a volcanic eruption on Sunday in the Andes along the Chilean/Argentine border.

Authorities initially said the Puyehue volcano was involved, but later said the eruption was occurring about 2 1/2 miles (four kilometers) from that peak.

A rift more than six miles (10 kilometers) long and three miles (five kilometers) across was torn in the earth's crust, officials said Saturday night.

Authorities had put the area on alert Saturday morning after a flurry of earthquakes, and the eruption began in the afternoon.

The National Emergency Office said it recorded an average of 230 tremors an hour.

About 600 people were evacuated when the first alert went up and hundreds more left their homes after the eruption began.

Reuters photo

The wind carried the plume of ash to the east and across the mountains to western Argentina. Officials on the Argentine side of the border had to close down airports in Nequen and the mountain resort town of Bariloche while advising residents to stock up on food and water before sheltering in place.

Getty Images

The eruption also prompted the closure of Chilean national Highway 215, one of the few cross border highways in the region that are paved and open to commercial vehicles. Local officials were working to clear the accumulation of ash with bulldozers and heavy equipment while Carabineros (Chile's national uniformed police) were inspecting roads and bridges in the evacuation zone for any damage.

Endgame! Rescuers Begin Bringing Trapped Chilean Miners to Surface

Man oh man...what a year for Chile. First there was that massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake, then they got their asses handed to them in the World Cup. Somehow, I think the latest news out of Copiapo more than makes up for it.

I figure it would only be a matter of time before I updated the saga of the 33 trapped Chilean miners, but as it turned out, it was a little sooner than I expected.

A metallic capsule named 'The Phoenix' was set to start bringing up the miners trapped at the San Jose mine one by one this week. The miners had been trapped since August, although supplies were being sent down to them through a hole roughly the diameter of a grapefruit as rescuers were working on a larger, parallel shaft.

It's been estimated that it may take as long as 36 hours for all the miners to be pulled up to the surface, but the capsule has successfully reached the miners and the first half dozen have made it back to the surface. Along with the head of Chile's state-run copper company, a medic from Chile's navy went down in the capsule to do a cursory examination of the men before the capsule hauled them up. Right now, all of the men have been given sunglasses- even though they were being brought up to the surface shortly after midnight- because of the glare of spotlights from the media and rescuers. The capsules are also equipped with video cameras, an intercom and oxygen masks to monitor their health on the way back up.

Once at the surface, the men were greeted by their families and Chilean President Sebastian Piñera before being sent to a triage center and hospital in Copiopo for further physical evaluation.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the miners, their families and the rescuers for their (thus far) successful rescue that has caught the world's undivided attention. All too often we hear about mining accidents on this scale with very tragic outcomes, so it it very welcoming to get some good news along these lines for a change.

[To honor the end of the miner's plight, I'm listening to this- but playing it backwards, of course...NANESB!]

UPDATE 10/13: The last of the 33 miners, 54 year old foreman Luis Urzua, has reached the surface in the Phoenix capsule tonight. Urzua and the other 32 miners are undergoing examination in nearby Copiapo, but are believed to be in overall good physical health.