Many Cubans who remember the bleak economic times after Soviet aid dried up are worried that similar turmoil could be the result of Chavez's illness.

"We have received poetry, letters from children, from grandparents and have even had Cubans and foreigners who live here offering their lives if it would help improve our commander's health," said Edgardo Antonio Ramirez, Venezuela's ambassador to Cuba.

Cubans have held regular prayer services for Chavez. At a recent ceremony held by practitioners of the Afro-Caribbean religion Santeria, worshipers banged drums, smoked cigars and danced feverishly to scare away death.

The service, which usually is only held to cure Santeria followers, was attended by Venezuelan diplomats and military officials. In front of a large poster of Chavez, ceremony participants lit candles and made offerings.

"We are trying to give him all the spiritual energy we can," said Papo Angarica, the Santeria priest who officiated the service.