Oprah may have taped her last show yesterday, but we've still got another plump drama queen -- perhaps for decades to come. With the Big O saying goodbye, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is now the western hemisphere's premier entertainer. And injuries be damned, the Hugo Show will go on.
During his weekly address, Chávez told supporters that he has been suffering from an old ankle injury from his days as a paratrooper.
But not to worry: Chávez is now on the mend thanks to his good friend Evo Morales and a "magic plant" called chilca.
Chávez's Bolivian counterpart sent him the anti-inflammatory Andean plant (Baccharis latifolia) along with instructions on how to grind it up and apply it in a poultice to his sore ankle.
"Thanks to Evo who sent me the chilca, the magic herb," Chávez said, apparently with a straight face.
"My doctors say I have to take good care of myself. I'm still not in condition to enter the daily battle in the streets like we've become accustomed to these last 12 years," he added.
No word on whether Chávez can now shoot fireballs from his mouth or merely walks around Miraflores with the munchies staring at portraits of Simon Bolivar.
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