(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, dogged by widespread speculation about his health, appeared chipper and energetic in a television appearance over the weekend. "What a lovely breeze, what lovely weather," Chavez said Saturday as he opened a meeting with a delegation from Belarus several weeks before President Alexander Lukashenko's scheduled visit to the South American nation. State-run VTV showed Chavez walking down a long hall with the Belarusian delegation before delivering a speech on the front steps of the palace. For Chavez, a year of health struggles Facing a row of cameras, the Venezuelan president spoke effusively about his Bolivarian revolution, football, friends and the weather.
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"What a lovely breeze, what lovely weather," a cheerful Chavez says
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State-run VTV shows Chavez walking a long hallway with Belorussian leaders
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Speculation continues to swirl about his health and political future
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Journalist Dan Rather describes the Venezuelan president's situation as "dire"
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Golinger said Chavez was "a far cry from being on his 'death bed,' as @placeholder implies."