Hugo Chavez returns to Cuba for more cancer treatment

GlobalPost

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced today he would be returning to Cuba for another round of radiation treatment for his cancer, which resurfaced in February, reported Agence France-Presse. Chavez's cancer was first detected in his pelvic area in June 2011.

"I will return in the next few hours to Havana," he told Venezuelan television, according to AFP. "We are in the home stretch of my radiation treatment."

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During his television appearance, the president pulled a cross from his breast pocket, kissed it and clasped it in his fist, according to CNN. He said he would return to Venezuela within "a few days."

"I am confident Christ will repeat, or continue, the miracle," CNN reported Chavez said.

Since his operation to remove a second tumor from his pelvic area on February 26, Chavez has gone back and forth between Cuba and Venezuela to receive radiation treatment, according to Bloomberg. Since the beginning of the year, he has spent 50 days in Cuba. The Venezuelan president said he would complete his fifth and last session of radiation during his previous trip.

At 57, Chavez insists he will run for a third six-year term in an October 7 election, and has never released what kind of cancer he has to the public, reported AFP.

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