Venezuelan leaders have met amid growing concerns over President Hugo Chavez’s health, with Vice President Nicolas Maduro saying his cancer is the result of enemies' attack.Venezuela’s civilian and military leaders met on Tuesday, after it was announced that Chavez’s health had taken a turn for the worse.
"...The historic enemies of this nation looked for how to harm the health of our commander," Maduro said.
The vice president also added that a US Embassy military official was being expelled for seeking information from military officials and being involved in "destabilization projects" against the government.
He added that “special measures” are being taken to counter sabotage and conspiracies against the government.
Maduro also said that Chavez’s disease and health situation is similar to the fate of late Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, which is of “public knowledge” that he was murdered.
Swiss scientists found traces of polonium in Arafat’s belongings, prompting them to carry out an investigation into his death.
On Monday, Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that the president’s health condition was “very delicate” as he was battling a “new and severe infection."
On February 18, Chavez returned to Caracas after receiving more than two months of treatment in Cuba and his supporters held street celebrations to welcome him home.
He had traveled to Havana on December 10, 2012, for a fourth operation after his cancer reappeared.
Chavez has not appeared in public since his December operation, which resulted in post-surgery complications.
In late March 2012, Chavez began radiation treatment in Cuba after an operation in February 2012 that removed a second cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. Chavez received chemotherapy after his first tumor, which was baseball-sized, was removed in June 2011.
