Venezuela’s Chavez faces new cancer scare

CARACAS – Months after declaring himself cancer-free, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he will undergo more surgery in Cuba to remove a new lesion he said is likely cancerous.

The news raised new questions about Chavez’s health as the firebrand leftist leader, seeking reelection, faces a serious challenge from a unified opposition candidate in an October presidential vote.Chavez, 57, who has been in power since 1999, said on Tuesday that 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 centimetres (less than an inch) in diameter, very clearly visible,’ Chavez said on state-run television, adding that it was ‘in the same area where a tumour was removed nearly a year ago.’’There will have to be a new operation to extract it and have it examined to see if it’s malignant or not.’’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, almost paraphrasing words of his close ally, former Cuban president Fidel Castro.Chavez’ statement came after rumours about his ill health had spread on social networking sites.Last year his government was slow to report on his illness, but on Tuesday the news tumbled out quickly, as Chavez acknowledged that chances that the new lesion were cancerous were ‘high.’Chavez later said he would undergo the new surgery in Havana. Communist Cuba is Venezuela’s staunchest ally.- Nampa-AP

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