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Chavez begins marathon TV show
Show celebrating 10th anniversary of weekly programme to run for four days.
Last Modified: 29 May 2009 07:15 GMT
Chavez's weekly show was first launched in 1999 [AFP]

Venezuela's president has begun a four-day marathon show on radio and television, celebrating the 10th anniversary of his weekly programme "Hello President".  

Hugo Chavez said the show would run from Thursday to Sunday, with some breaks of unspecified duration.

"We're starting in the sunshine. We'll probably have a programme in the rain," he said as he launched the live programme at an electrical plant in western Venezuela.

"We might have an episode at midnight, in the early morning. Keep an eye out.''

Weekly show

"Hello President" was first broadcast on the radio on May 23, 1999, a month after Chavez took office. State television began airing the show the following year.

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Hugo Chavez 

The programme is transmitted from a different corner of the country each week, normally on Sundays, and typically lasts four to six hours.

On Thursday he began the programme giving sexual education tips to a group of teenagers and talked about problems with his weight, which has ballooned since he took office.  

Chavez has used his television appearances to preaching his own brand of
socialism, announce nationalisations, and berate opponents.

He once shocked his defence minister on the show by ordering tanks to the border with Colombia. 

Venezuela's media is polarised, with government stations strongly supporting Chavez and private newspapers and television channels relentlessly critical of the president and his policies.

Source:
Agencies
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