People News

Hugo Chavez ailing, in hospital

By April MacIntyre Sep 29, 2011, 14:01 GMT

A handout picture provided by Miraflores Palace shows Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaking during a meeting with Foreign Ministers of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, 09 September 2011. EPA/Miraflores Palace H

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who has been fighting cancer, was rushed to a military hospital for emergency care following kidney failure, according to reports first published in Spanish-language newspapers in Miami.

The Iranian ally, and anti-US leader Chavez went into the Military Hospital in Caracas on Tuesday morning, reported the El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language sister newspaper of the Miami Herald.  The paper reported that Chavez was admitted to a hospital in Caracas Sept. 27 and would undergo dialysis to treat a possible kidney failure.

"He was in fairly serious overall condition," the unnamed source told the Nuevo Herald. "When he arrived, he was in quite serious shape and that is why he was brought in for emergency care."

Venezuela's Information Minister Andres Izarra denied the report in a posting on Twitter.

"Those who should be admitted are the journalists of the Nuevo Herald, except into a madhouse (instead of a hospital)," Izarra tweeted, without providing further details.

Chavez returned to Venezuela after a fourth round of chemotherapy in Cuba.

Chavez, 57, had a cancerous tumor removed on June 20 in Havana.

The chatter has increased over the condition of Chavez after a weekend meeting between Chavez and his Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was postponed indefinitely.