‘Artist' Chavez Gifts Portrait to Argentine Leader
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday gifted visiting Argentine leader Cristina Kirchner a picture that he painted featuring her late husband and political predecessor Nestor.
Chavez gave her the painting as he inaugurated the Nestor Kirchner Hall at the Miraflores presidential palace.
"Yes, my queen, I painted it for you," Chavez told the Argentine president, who was visibly moved by the gift.
"I finished it yesterday, the paint is still fresh."
The picture is a tight portrait of Chavez and the ex-Argentine president, with only their faces featured.
"I put my soul into this, and it's the best picture that I've painted in my life," said Chavez, whose hair seemed to be growing back after recent surgery for cancer.
Nestor Kirchner, Argentina's president between 2003 and 2007, died of a sudden heart attack in October 2010. He was 60 years old.
The center-left leader was best known as the president who led Argentina in the aftermath of its 1999-2002 economic crisis, which resulted in the largest sovereign debt default in history.
As president he co-governed with his wife, and when Cristina Kirchner was elected president in late 2007 Nestor was her top advisor.
Chavez, who first took office in 1999, had met often with Nestor Kirchner.
Cristina Kirchner was in Caracas on an official visit ahead of a regional summit that starts Friday.
A large copy of Chavez's picture will hang in the hall along with a much larger portrait of the late Argentine leader.
Chavez also told Kirchner -- who was at the event with her daughter Florencia -- that he will be in Buenos Aires on December 10 for the ceremony inaugurating her second term in office.
It will be Chavez's first official visit abroad since he was diagnosed with cancer in June. Chavez traveled several times to Cuba for medical treatment.
Source: Agence France Presse
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