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Chavez's "Alo Presidente" returns to Venezuelan TV

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during his weekly broadcast ''Alo President'' at the Orinoco Belt January 8, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Miraflores Palace/Handout

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's signature "Alo Presidente" TV show returned to Venezuelan screens on Sunday in the latest milestone of his recovery from cancer at the start of an election year.

The 57-year-old leader has often been on television in recent weeks, looking stronger and boasting a new head of hair as he hosted regional leaders in Caracas last month, then made his first official foreign trip since having surgery in June.

The formal relaunch of the program ("Hello President") - consisting of often hours-long folksy monologues that the socialist leader uses to tell stories, croon songs, order the nationalization of companies and bait foes - will cheer his supporters ahead of the October 7 vote.

"Here we are in 'Alo Presidente!' ... we have to coordinate a bit better," Chavez said after technical problems caused the audio to be cut for a few minutes at the start of the show.

The program is shown live on state media and is often broadcast from different locations around the country.

Chavez used Sunday's show, which ran for six hours and was transmitted from the giant Petromonagas oil facility, to make a big announcement: that Venezuela would not recognize any ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp.

And he laughed off a U.S. warning to avoid close ties with Tehran, denouncing what he said was Washington's attempt to dominate the world as he prepared to welcome Iran's president to the South American nation.

"The return of the weekly show, along with the president's visibly renewed hairline, suggests Chavez is recovering from his recent bout of cancer. 'Alo Presidente' ... is much more than a chat show," said the UK-based LatinNews think tank.

"President Chavez has made more policy on the airwaves than he has in the council of ministers."

INTERACTIVE FORMAT

The show first aired in May 1999 and was last broadcast on June 5, 2011, days before Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba to remove a large malignant tumor from his pelvis.

Officials had promised a more interactive format for the program, and on Sunday Chavez fielded calls from two women live on air. One said she was firmly behind him, but was worried about high crime levels - the top concern of voters.

During a musical interlude by a band waiting in the wings, he got up on stage, danced and even played a bit of percussion.

The recuperating president, who has no clear successor, has been sparing no effort or expense to demonstrate to supporters and detractors alike that he is ready to take on and win the toughest re-election campaign of his 13 years in power.

Details about his condition remain a closely guarded secret. Chavez says he is fully cured after four rounds of chemotherapy, although experts say it is too soon to make such a call.

Rumors about his health have persisted, and the coming election battle will be unlike any that the usually garrulous, man-of-the-people Chavez has fought before.

Where once he would wade into crowds, his doctors will try to keep him on a tighter rein. That will mean he has to make more of his lengthy television appearances, including the re-launched "Alo Presidente."

Recent surveys by two local pollsters show six in 10 Venezuelans believe the president has fully recovered. Supporters hope the return of his Sunday broadcast will help banish the image of a weakened candidate from the public's mind.

A newly united opposition coalition is set to hold primaries next month to select a single candidate who will face Chavez in October. The presidential contest is expected to be close.

Chavez hopes to tip the scales in his favor through big increases in state spending on social programs for the poor and putting to work the formidable national electoral machinery of his ruling Socialist Party.