Vzla: Disinformation prompts resignation

Presenting himself as responsible for the mistake made by President Hugo Chávez in his Sunday radio-television program about the seriousness of the injuries suffered by a group of soldiers in a fire at a military base in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Communication and Information Minister Jesse Chacón offered to resign his office Monday night.

Chacón called a press conference to read a communiqué admitting that his team had given the president wrong information that led him to say in his "Hello, President!" program that the soldiers only had "light injuries."

This report, Chacón added, "misrepresented the real state of these injured fellow countrymen, as while some of them were released because their injuries were light, others had burns of a greater consideration."

"Understanding that the origin of the misinformation is solely within the responsibility of the office under my direction, I have made the decision to offer my resignation to the president at this moment," Chacón said in his message.

The final decision is now in the hands of the president, but at the same time Chacón said that his resignation is unchangeable.