Rumors are flying in Venezuela that Hugo Chávez is on his death bed - fighting a respiratory infection in a Havana oncology ward that, according to official statements, developed after his fourth cancer surgery. Now, Fidel Castro is fueling rumors of a death watch with an open letter to Venezuelan Vice President Nicolás Maduro.

It has the tone of a funeral eulogy.

Sent by Castro on New Year's Day, the 350-word letter also was published in Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee. Castro, a mentor to Chávez over the years, recalls his first meeting with Venezuela's strongman in Havana in 1994; this was not long after Chávez, then a cashiered Army paratrooper, was released from prison for leading an aborted military coup in 1992. Castro details his revolutionary struggles with Chávez and - most tellingly - observes that "however painful (Chávez's) absence, all of you will be capable of continuing his work." Cuba has been a recipient of Venezuela's oil and economic largesse; it has many agents in Venezuela helping Chávez's security services.

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For this death watch are we to light candles and hold a vigil?

Purchase fireworks for the after-party?

Buy widow's weeds and get our funeral-flowers ready for the week-long public mourning and parades?

What is the protocol? I confess to being ill-prepared. I don't know what the custom is. Any advice?

LOL yes how does one moron the loss of a Dictator. I'm sure the Liberals will show us how