Chavez declares success in cancer fight

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home from Havana late Friday, declaring success in his fight against cancer after a week in which he received what was supposed to be his last session of radiation therapy.

Give me life, because I still have things to do for my people and my country

“I have to tell you that in recent days we have successfully concluded this course of radiation therapy,” the Venezuelan leader told local television upon his arrival at Maiquetia Airport.

Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami had fuelled the speculation after saying Tuesday that the Venezuelan president would return in “the coming hours,” which then did not happen.

Chavez, 57, has undergone surgery twice in the past year to remove cancerous tumours, and has had chemotherapy followed by radiation treatments to try to rid himself of cancer.

He has not disclosed the type of cancer he has or the prognosis, which, with presidential elections looming in October, has fuelled political uncertainty at home.

Chavez, in power since 1999, is running for re-election as a “revolutionary socialist” against Henrique Capriles, the youthful Miranda state governor and centre-left candidate for the united opposition.

Last month, Chavez put his health and political future in the spotlight, begging at a pre-Easter mass: “Please don’t take me yet.”