Maundy Thursday Carnival in Barinas

It looks like things may not be going well for Chavez.  Returning from his latest zapping in Havana (he stops by in  Caracas to insult and threaten folks in between radiotherapy sessions) he went straight ahead to his home state of Barinas where a special mass was held late afternoon for his well being.  A mass, of course, he presided: why need the help of a catholic priest when you are good enough to ask for life extension yourself.  I am not sure at what scale/stage number of denial and grief he is but tonight it was the bargain phase, when he asked Jesus to give him more life even if that one would be marked by intgense personal physical suffering.  We are Maundy Thursday after all..... and I suppose it was in good taste to offer to suffer more than Christ himself.
If you understand Spanish it is worthwhile to watch the excerpt from El Universal (sorry, cannot embed it).  In it you will hear Chavez asking for Christ crown so he can bleed to, and for 100 crosses to bear and what not....  If you have the stomach for it you can try theTelesur version of more than 20 minutes....  And to supplement the high level of grotesque do not miss the Venezuelan news agency, ABN, making it a piece of news that chavistas twitterers made a tag that trended#ChávezTeAmamos "chavez we love you"
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, the more so in the realm of the grotesque...
Added later, after finding it in Youtube: