Thousands of supporters attend alternative inauguration for Chavez

Venezuelan officials gathered foreign allies and tens of thousands of exuberant supporters in Caracas on Thursday to celebrate a new term for a leader too ill to return home to be sworn in.

The face of President Hugo Chavez beamed from shirts, signs and banners, on the day he was supposed to have been inaugurated.

Nearly everyone wore red, the colour of his Bolivarian Revolution movement.

Chavez, normally at the centre of national attention, is so ill following a fourth cancer surgery in Cuba that he has made no broadcast statement in more than a month and has not appeared in a single photo.

The government said in its last update on Monday that he was in a "stable situation" while being treated for a severe respiratory infection.

The government invited foreign leaders to add political weight to Thursday's event.

Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Jose Mujica of Uruguay were among the presidents sitting beside Vice President Nicolas Maduro on a stage in front of the crowds.

Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said his country's government would support Maduro.

"Our Argentine comrade (Cristina Fernandez), her government, and the Argentine people, will stand next to you for as long as necessary, until the return of President Chavez next to you," said Timerman.

Ricardo Patino, Ecuador Foreign Minister, added: "The peace and development of Venezuela, our America, and the people of the world are in solidarity with Venezuela and their democratic choice."

Visiting leaders also took the opportunity to rebuff what they called "imperialist" and "colonialists" governments.

Referring to the Falkland Islands, or Malvinas as they are known in Argentina, Timerman said his government would "get them back."

"That is the best way to tell colonialists that Latin America and the Caribbean are behind the absolute integration of the territory of the Argentine Republic," he said.

Venezuela's opposition, limping after two recent electoral defeats, seems powerless to effectively challenge Chavez, and critics see their impotence in the battle over his new inauguration as an example of how the president has been able to ignore the constitution at whim.

Despite opposition claims that the constitution demands a 10 January swearing-in, the pro-Chavez congress approved delaying the inauguration.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed the postponement, saying the president could be sworn in before the court at a later date.