Daily Archives: 03/06/2013

Venezuela’s Foreign Policy Without Chavez: Is this the End of ALBA?

03/06/2013 – 7:06 am

COHA Special Report: Demerara Waves

Venezuela’s Foreign Policy Without Chavez: Is this the End of ALBA?

Venezuela mapWritten by Guest Columnist – by W. Alejandro Sánchez, Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)

Wednesday, 06 March 2013 – Hugo Chávez Frias, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, passed away on March 5, 2013, due to severe health complications. For at least the past year and half, the Venezuelan head of state had been battling cancer that continued to appear in spite of several surgeries. He traveled to Cuba for a new round of treatment this past December 2012, naming his vice president, Nicolas Maduro, as his successor, should the worst happen.

Now, the question is whether Maduro will respect the country’s constitution and call for new presidential elections within the constitutional period of 30 days. The Venezuelan opposition has not yet elected a candidate, though all eyes are on Henrique Capriles Radonski, who ran for and lost to Chávez the presidency in the October 7, 2012 elections. He was reelected as governor of the state of Miranda in the recent December 16 regional elections.    Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Commentary, International News | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

REUTERS: Obituary: Hugo Chavez

03/06/2013 – 6:43 am

REUTERS: Obituary: Hugo Chavez – socialist showman who transformed Venezuela

Hugo Chavez

The late President of Venezuela – Hugo Chavez

March 5, 2013- CARACAS (Reuters) – At two defining moments of his rule, Venezuela’s theatrical leader Hugo Chavez took a small silver crucifix from his pocket and held it above his head.

Both marked a quasi-religious “return” for the socialist ex-soldier whom supporters loved with messianic fervor – first from a 2002 coup that saw him jailed on a tiny Caribbean island, and then from cancer surgery in Cuba in June 2011.

As he held aloft the crucifix from a balcony of his Miraflores Palace after returning from surgery, the maverick president of South America’s biggest oil exporter said he was putting his fate in the hands of God and the Virgin Mary.

“Today, the revolution is more alive than ever. I feel it, I live it, I touch it … If Christ is with us, who can be against us? If the people are with us, who can be against us?” he said, working his supporters into a frenzy.          Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in International News | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Guyana-born Deborah Persaud: HIV Clinician First, Scientist Second

03/06/2013 – 4:21 am

Deborah Persaud: Clinician First, Scientist Second

Guyana-born Deborah Persaud, was one of the researchers who discovered that a baby born with HIV seemed to be cured after early antiretroviral drug treatment.  [See CNN Report here, as well as a full length video interview with Dr Persaud below.]

Deborah Persaud
Deborah Persaud probes drug resistance in children with HIV.

The finding was announced at the 2013 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta. Dr. Deborah Persaud, a virologist with Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, was lead author on the report presented at the conference.

Here is a story on her research and work that was published in May 2005.

On an afternoon last December (2004), Deborah Persaud was summoned to a meeting by her division head. What to do? It was her day to pick up the kids at day care. She called her husband; he agreed to switch with her.   Continue reading →

By guyaneseonline | Posted in Guyana, Medical, Science, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (14)