Venezuelan VP Maduro arrives at CELAC meeting, reads letter penned by Chavez

(28 Jan 2013) SHOTLIST
AP TELEVISION
1. Various of Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro arriving at the CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) meeting in Santiago
POOL
2. Wide of CELAC meeting
3. Chilean President Sebastian Pinera presenting Maduro with flag from CELAC summit to represent the well-wishes of all the delegates for President Hugo Chavez's recovery
4. Wide of CELAC meeting as delegates stand up
5. Maduro holding flag up to show delegates, Pinera standing by his side clapping
6. Wide of delegate clapping
7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan Vice President: ++includes cutaway of letter from Chavez being read out by Maduro++
"The message of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez to the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. President Pinera, brothers and sisters. In the name of the people of Venezuela we send you very warm Bolivarian greeting as well as the living testimony of the brotherhood from each of our towns in the great nation."
8. Cuban President Raul Castro at summit
9. Close of letter in Maduro's hands ++soundbite begins++
10. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan Vice President: ++includes cutaway of Raul Castro++
"We have committed to give all the necessary support to a Cuba which, following this summit here in Santiago, will take over the rotating presidency of our community. This is an act of justice following 50 years of resistance against the criminal imperial blockade. Latin America and the Caribbean are saying to the United States with a united voice that all of the attempts to isolate Cuba have failed and will continue to fail."
11. Close up of Chavez's signature on letter being read out by Maduro, tilt down
12. Wide of CELAC meeting
13. Wide of Pinera clapping
14. Wide of Bolivian President Evo Morales and Bolivian delegate clapping
15. Wide of Castro and Cuban delegation clapping
STORYLINE
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro read out a letter he said was penned by absent President Hugo Chavez at a regional summit in Chile on Monday.
The typewritten letter ran to about a dozen pages and celebrated the assumption by Cuban President Raul Castro to the rotating presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The letter also condemned the US embargo of Cuba.
In the letter, Chavez said that the Cuban presidency of CELAC was "an act of justice following 50 years of resistance against the criminal imperial blockade".
"Latin America and the Caribbean are saying to the United States with a united voice that all of the attempts to isolate Cuba have failed and will continue to fail," Maduro read from the letter as Castro looked on.
Chavez's signature, in red ink, was visible at the end of the letter.
Chavez missed this past weekend's CELAC meeting in Santiago as he is undergoing more medical treatment in Cuba after struggling with complications following cancer surgery.
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera presented Maduro with a flag from the CELAC summit to represent the well-wishes of all the delegates for Chavez's recovery.
Maduro has been the government's top public figure while Chavez remains in Cuba after his fourth surgery for cancer.
The letter was highly anticipated after Venezuelan officials said it would show that Chavez remains lucid and in charge.
Chavez helped broker the creation of the 33-member CELAC in December 2011.
CELAC seeks to unify the region as a counterweight to their powerful hemispheric neighbour, the United States.


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