Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who recently revealed that he’s receiving treatment for cancer in Cuba, said that the illness will strengthen him and he’s optimistic he’ll return to full health.
Chavez, speaking in a live telephone call to a Cuban television program yesterday for the first time since June 12, said that Fidel Castro, the former Cuban president, detected his frail health. Castro pushed him to remove a cancerous tumor after an operation to drain a pelvic abscess.
“No one expected this illness but I’m optimistic and sure that I’ll emerge from it stronger,” he said. “If it weren’t for Fidel, who knows what labyrinth I’d be in right now.”
Until now, Chavez only had been shown in previously recorded videos and images. Chavez told Venezuelans in a nationally broadcast speech on June 30 that he was operated on twice in Cuba and that he won’t hurry his return during treatment.
Chavez also said he had phone calls with leaders of Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Latin American leaders have sent him messages of solidarity.
Chavez confirmed he was in Cuba for treatment of cancerous cells detected after a tumor-removal operation, which followed a June 10 operation for a pelvic abscess.
It remained unclear which kind of cancer was involved in the cells and how long he would remain in Cuba. There has been speculation in Venezuela about the health of Chavez over the past weeks.
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