Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday admitted publicly for the first time that his cancer had returned and said he faces a new round of radiotherapy treatment after having a second malignant tumor removed in Cuba.
The news not only throws Venezuela into turmoil, but could have implications around the region, amid expectations that the man who is arguably Latin America’s dominant figure may be forced, even temporarily, to cede the public stage.
“The tumor was completely removed and what we assumed was confirmed: It’s a recurrence of the cancer I was originally diagnosed with,” Chavez, who is facing a tough reelection battle later this year, said on state television.
The 57-year-old underwent surgery in Havana last week for what he had called a “lesion” — it was removed from the same area, around the pelvis, where a first tumor was extracted in June last year.
After the initial surgery and chemotherapy, the firebrand leader, a key foe of the US, had declared himself cancer-free.
Chavez, who has been in Cuba for treatment since Feb. 24, said on Sunday that the new tumor was about 2cm in length — much smaller than the earlier one, which he described as being “about the size of a baseball.”
No date has been announced for his return to Venezuela.
Officials in Caracas have never specified what type of cancer the president is suffering from, but they have denied the disease has spread to other organs, as many observers suspect.
The Venezuelan leader expressed relief over “the absence of [additional] lesions” in the affected area and the nearby organs, which he said suggested that the cancer had not traveled throughout his body.
“No spreading, no metastasis, no lymph nodes — none of that, thank God,” he said. “That’s the reason why we are so optimistic in this fight.”
Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, first announced last summer that he had cancer, shocking the oil-exporting nation.
He remains popular, especially among the poor and also is the inspiration for legions of loyalists who see him as quasi-invincible and indispensable for the “socialist revolution” of South America’s largest oil-producing country.
Chavez has also served as the unofficial mentor of several left-leaning governments in the region.
Re-elected three times, Chavez survived a coup attempt in 2002, made a habit of staring down the country’s powerful nemesis, the US, and has consorted with Cuba, shunned by many other countries in the region.
However, his cancer has upended the country’s political scene. Uncertainty over the president’s future has hit pro-Chavez forces, who fear being leaderless, as much as the country’s anti-Chavez faction — which had made opposing the president and his policies their focus.
The Venezuelan leader appeared to be in good spirits during Sunday’s broadcast, in which he was shown alongside Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolas Maduro and other government officials, as well as his sister Rosa and his older brother Adan Chavez, the governor of Barinas State. The president said it could be weeks before he begins his new radiation treatment because he must wait for surgical incisions to heal and said other complementary -treatment options had not been ruled out.
Chavez faces a strong challenge in October elections from 39-year-old Henrique Capriles, who was chosen as the sole candidate to run against him by a unified opposition and who could be further strengthened by the president’s medical problems.
Capriles, who was attending a campaign rally in Caracas on Sunday, blamed shots fired at the event on the ruling party. One person was reportedly wounded.
“What is the fear of those entrenched in power?” he said. “There is no stopping a people who want change!”
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