Hug Chavez was declared dead by the New York Times so that makes it true. Hugo is resting as comfortably as a dead man can in a hospital in Havana, and is reported, by the Cuban government, to be alive with the help of ventilators and assorted hardware. The thing is, Cuba and Venezuela have a sweetheart deal for very cheap Venezuelan oil, and so long as Chavez is alive that cheap oil and other goodies courtesy of a benevolent Hugo Chavez will continue to flow to the Castro brothers. And what makes this interesting is that no one is allowed to see Chavez except Fidel, and so Chavez will be alive as long as it is convenient for Fidel to say he is. Hugo Chavez may be the first President for Life who spends a good part of his presidency in a jar of formaldehyde.

The pumps and relays, men have willed

Work hard to keep the heart unstilled

The respirators’ ceaseless toil

Confine him to this mortal coil

The tubes with fluids flow unchecked

Into a body syringe bedecked

And yet when all is done and said

The hour come, the tyrant dead