Handout picture released by the Presidential Press Office showing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gesturing during a Council of Ministers at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas.
President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela today after a first session of radiation treatment in Cuba that he hopes will cure his cancer and allow him to win a new six-year term in October.
The 57-year-old socialist leader has said he will be flying back and forth between Caracas and Havana over the coming weeks as he undergoes therapy, removing himself from the political stage just as his election rival gears up his campaign.
Very little is known about Chavez’s condition – he has had three cancer operations in less than a year.
«It’s a hard battle … I’m good and will continue to be good. I’ve taken the treatment very well, thanks to God» he said, flanked by ministers during an hour-long pre-dawn speech broadcast on state TV from the Miraflores presidential palace.
The opposition has insisted the president appoint a temporary leader to run the government during his absences in Cuba, something that Chavez has repeatedly rejected.
«I may have reduced my speed, but the government has accelerated … there is no power vacuum,» he said on today.
He said he expected to return to Cuba on Saturday to resume the radiation treatment, and to stay there for four more days.
The president started the radiation therapy last Saturday, saying he would undergo one session a day for five consecutive days, then fly home to rest for a couple of days. Overall, Chavez has said, the treatment should last four to five weeks.
He previously underwent four session of chemotherapy that caused his hair to fall out but it since has grown back.
buenosairesherald.com