Venezuela’s invisible president

Hugo Chávez’s stealth return to Venezuela this week, which was carried out with the same signature secrecy that surrounds all aspects of his health status, makes it clearer than ever that Venezuela is leaderless and in need of someone else to take over. Mr. Chávez’s entry was unlike any of his triumphal arrivals from previous overseas trips, which featured adoring crowds cheering the return of their hero. Indeed, his delivery into the country was carried out like a secret intelligence operation. He was brought back late at night without advance public notice and spirited off in the pre-dawn darkness to the Carlos Arvelo Military Hospital, accompanied only by members of his family and his political retinue. The public was not allowed to get so much as a glimpse of the ailing 58-year-old leader to determine whether he is incapacitated, though all signs point in that direction. Access to the hospital’s ninth floor, where Mr. Chávez resides, is tightly restricted and enforced by a phalanx of gun-toting guards. He has not been seen or heard from since he came back, aside from a few Twitter messages that hailed his arrival and then went silent.