MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 28th 2024 - 19:26 UTC

 

 

Chavez in Cuba for cancer radiation treatment; promises to be back in several days

Sunday, March 25th 2012 - 08:37 UTC
Full article 6 comments
On recommendations from his medical and political teams the Venezuelan president left for Cuba On recommendations from his medical and political teams the Venezuelan president left for Cuba

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will return to Cuba to begin radiation treatment for cancer on Sunday, but said he was in ‘good shape’ and would be back home in several days.

Since returning to Caracas from Havana a week ago after a third operation in less than a year to remove a malignant tumour from his pelvis, the 57-year-old populist leader had been saying he would begin radiation therapy soon.

But until now the president had not revealed whether he would fly back to Cuba or stay in Venezuela for the treatment, which is expected to leave him weaker during his campaign to win a new six-year term at a presidential election on October 7.

”Tonight I leave for Havana. I have decided, on the recommendation of my medical team and my political team, to begin the radiation treatment tomorrow (Sunday),“ Chavez said during a televised cabinet meeting.

Chavez has dominated Venezuelan politics for the last 13 years, and his illness has shocked voters in South America's biggest oil exporter in the run-up to the election.

Some have questioned how fit he would be to govern if he won, and his treatment is expected to stop him from conducting the kind of man-on-the-street campaign that has worked so well in the past to help him drive forward his leftist ”revolution”.
 

Categories: Politics, Latin America.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • Ira Curtis

    Does it mean that no Venezuelan doctors willing to treat him?
    Or:
    Does it mean that there are no medical facilities good enough for a relativlely simple treatment as radiation in Venezuela?
    Or:
    Does it mean that Chavez doesn't trust the Venezuelan doctors not to kill him?
    You decide.

    Mar 25th, 2012 - 01:13 pm 0
  • GreekYoghurt

    @1 can i select more than one option?

    Mar 25th, 2012 - 02:53 pm 0
  • Ira Curtis

    One question with thousands of answers. All boils down to the same basic question, Why and how could monsters like Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin and many more, drag a whole nation into chaos. Into a social, political and economical turmoil. Why would so many people get along with it? hopefully for Venezuela He will die before being re-elected and will save the venezuelan from the horror of the aftermath as it was in similar dictatorships, as in the case of Alexander the great for example.
    We all know that history will always repeat itself...

    Mar 25th, 2012 - 05:04 pm 0
Read all comments

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!