Months after declaring himself cancer-free, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he will soon undergo surgery to remove a lesion in his pelvis, where a malignant tumor was extracted in 2011.
The news raised new questions about Chavez's health as the leftist leader, seeking re-election, faces a serious challenge from a unified opposition candidate in an October presidential vote.
Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, said the lesion was found during a medical checkup over the weekend in Cuba, where he first underwent cancer surgery on his pelvic area in June.
“It is a small lesion of nearly two centimeters in diameter, very clearly visible,” Chavez said on state-run VTV television, adding it was “in the same area where a tumor was removed nearly a year ago.”
“There'll have to be a new operation to extract it and have it examined to see if it's malignant or not.”
The former paratrooper said that there was “no metastasis” and denied his condition was terminal, insisting he was feeling “in good physical condition to confront this battle.”
“No one needs to get upset, and no one ought to start celebrating: because independent of what my personal fate may be, there is a driving force behind this revolution and nobody, nothing is going to stop it,” Chavez said.
His statement came after rumors about his ill health had spread on social networking sites.
Chavez said it had not yet been decided where the operation would take place, noting there were “several possibilities.” He added that the surgery would be less complicated than the one he underwent in June.
The Venezuelan leader has said he was declared cancer-free after that surgery and four rounds of chemotherapy, but details about his condition have been kept secret.
Venezuelan officials said only that the tumor was removed from his pelvic area, leading some to speculate that he was suffering from colon cancer.
Chavez is facing a strong election challenge from Henrique Capriles, who was chosen as the sole opposition candidate in a heavily attended presidential primary earlier this month.
Capriles, the 39-year-old governor of Miranda state, defeated five other candidates in the first-ever primary by the traditionally fractured opposition.
The opposition has this time joined forces in an effort to defeat Chavez, an ally of Cuba and harsh critic of the United States who has been criticized for jailing political opponents and restricting media opposition.
The incumbent had displayed signs of picking up the pace of his schedule in recent months, resuming weekly television and radio broadcasts, delivering rousing speeches and greeting supporters.
Backed by state media and willing to use Venezuela's petrodollars to subsidize food and fuel, the firebrand leader remains popular among the country's working class and has promoted a raft of new social programs as he seeks re-election.
Chavez, who once said he hoped to govern Venezuela through 2030, claims he will win a new six-year term “with 70 percent of the vote” and has said he doesn't care who he is running against.
Recent opinion polls have given Chavez a lead over Capriles, but around a third of Venezuelans say they are still undecided.
Capriles, a moderate who describes his politics as center-left, has argued that Venezuela can replicate Brazil's model of economic development, which mixes free market economic reforms and enhanced social programs.
As the race heats up for the October 7 vote, Chavez last week attacked Capriles, calling him a “pig,” a “low-life” and “the candidate of the bourgeois, of capitalism, of (US) imperialism.”
Capriles has so far brushed off the criticism.
“I don't feel like he is targeting me, nor do I feel uncomfortable,” he said in a Sunday interview with the El Universal daily.
“Insults and put-downs are the typical recourse of an exhausted, hulking boxer,” said the youthful marathon runner with movie-star looks.
Read the original post:
Venezuela's Chavez faces new surgery in cancer fight