by the El Reportero’s news services
Hugo Chávez
According to an intelligence report revealed by Wikileaks, the health of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is far worse than is being shared with the public.
The report, which includes testimony from Russian and Cuban doctors who were involved with his operations in Cuba, states that due to possible carcinogenic tumors in both his prostate and colon, as well as a potential metastasis to lymph nodes and bone marrow, President Chávez could have as little as one to two years left to live.
Chávez recently traveled to Cuba for another operation, as doctors found a lesion in his pelvic area. Though he had previously claimed that he was cured of cancer, the 57-year-old president’s government has reportedly begun preparing for a post-Chávez Venezuela. Regarding the recent release of reports from an intelligence company called Stratfor, Wikileaks writes: On Monday, Feb. 27, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor.
The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Defense [sic] Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.
Statfor President George Friedman told Univision the leaks were just “another attempt to silence and intimidate the company. Friedman claimed that “some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies,” though added that “some may be authentic.” He did not state which were accurate and which were not.
IN OTHER HUGO CHÁVEZ NEWS:
The Venezuelan government said Tuesday President Hugo Chávez is in “good physical condition” after an operation in Cuba for a lesion in the same part of his body where Cuban surgeons removed a cancerous tumor last June.
Vice President Elias Jaua provided the medical update at the beginning of a speech to the National Assembly.
New Conservation Area in Peru Protects Rare Cat, Birds, and Disappearing Cloud Forests
A new conservation area established in central Peru will help protect the area’s shrinking cloud forest, as well as a rich biodiversity of wildlife that includes numerous endemic bird species and the endangered Andean cat.
The new, 1,977-acre Monte Potrero Municipal Conservation Area is located in the department of Huánuco, in the municipality of Umari in central Peru. The area is characterized by steep topography and moist cloud forests. The designation caps years of effort by Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), American Bird Conservancy’s partner in Peru.
Endemic Peruvian bird species present in the area include the Fire-throated Metaltail, Baron’s Spinetail, and Tschudi’s Tapaculo.
Other notable species include the Powerful Woodpecker, White-chinned Thistletail, White-browed Spinetail, Three-striped Hemispingus, and White-browed Conebill. There are also small pockets of appropriate habitat at Monte Potrero for the Bay-vented Cotinga and Rufous-browed Hemispingus, which are listed as globally vulnerable.
