Trouble awaits Chavez at home

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP):

While President Hugo Chavez has been recovering from pelvic surgery in Cuba, his troubles at home in Venezuela have been accumulating.

On top of 23 per cent inflation and growing government debt, worsening blackouts have emerged as a serious dilemma, forcing Chavez's government to announce rationing measures including rolling power outages in some parts of the country.

Chavez is increasingly focused on shoring up support ahead of his 2012 re-election bid, and some analysts say his domestic woes seem to be limiting his international reach in Latin America.

"President Chavez is going through a very difficult time," said Maria Teresa Romero, a professor of international studies at the Central University of Venezuela. "He's not the same Hugo Chavez he was four, five years ago."

She said Chavez no longer has the financial ability to promote oil-funded diplomacy the way he did several years ago, and is increasingly consumed with confronting issues such as the blackouts, deadly prison riots and deficiencies in the health care system.

"If he can't handle such serious problems that are slipping out of his hands such as electricity ... how can it be explained that he's going to help other countries?" Romero said. She said elsewhere in Latin America, "They see he's weak."

The leftist leader has long reinforced his alliances by selling oil on credit and offering investments to build refineries in countries such as Ecuador and Brazil. The refinery projects, however, have been delayed for years, and other Chavez ideas such as a natural gas pipeline across South America have yet to get off the ground.

During more than 12 years in office, Chavez has been joined by increasing numbers of left-leaning leaders in Latin America, and has enjoyed close ties with presidents from Bolivia's Evo Morales to Argentina's Cristina Fernandez.