Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro dismisses rumors about Hugo Chavez's death

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro has dismissed rumors about Hugo Chavez's death, saying the leader was ruling the country from his hospital ward.

He stressed that a tracheal tube "does not prevent him from communicating and giving orders on all aspects of the economic, social and political life of our country.”

“He has a team of men and women who are subordinated… Absolutely subordinated to his command, to his leadership,” Marudo said, adding they were listening to the ailing president “with a knee on the ground.”

The vice president also said that Chavez had held a five-hour meeting with his aides and communicated with them by writing, although they had to have a break now and then.

Some Latin American media earlier cited the former Ambassador of Panama to the Organization of American States, Guillermo Cochez, as saying that President Hugo Chavez had suffered brain death. Venezuelan officials have been denying these rumours, claiming Chavez is still in charge.