South American leaders to visit Chavez in Cuba

Three Latin American leaders are in Cuba because of the health of another which is precariously hanging in the balance.

Nicolas Maduro is the Vice President of Venezuela. He's the hand picked successor of President Hugo Chavez. This is his second trip to Cuba to visit his cancer stricken leader and immediate family.

He's been joined by Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina and Ollanta Humala of Peru. All of them are expected to go and see Hugo Chavez, and also to assess the seismic hemispheric political changes which are already underway.

Inauguration Day back in Caracas – which was a non-event because Chavez's severe pneumonia prevented him from attending – has come and gone.


The immediate questions are whether the severe post-operative respiratory illness can be controlled and cured, and about Hugo Chavez's medical prospects. Is the undisclosed form of cancer he's suffering from curable? The Venezuelan people are waiting for more answers. The ones they got so far aren't complete: the whole doesn't equal the sum of the parts.

Listen to James Blears' report: