Insulza: "Next week will show if Chavez will perform presidential duties."

The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, has said that it will become known next week if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will perform his presidential duties or not. Insulza was speaking during a Paris-held conference on democracy in Latin American countries.

The Venezuelan authorities circulated an official report yesterday to the effect that Chavez is continuing to fight his disease.

This past Monday, Chavez was flown in to Caracas following two months of treatment in Cuba, where he underwent the fourth cancer surgery in the last 18 months. He has since been admitted to a Caracas military hospital, Irar Tass reports.