AP/ December 8, 2012, 9:43 PM

Venezuela's Chavez says cancer back, plans surgery

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during Brazilian Foreign Minister's official visit at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on Nov.1, 2012.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks during Brazilian Foreign Minister's official visit at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, on Nov.1, 2012. / LEO RAMIREZ/AFP/Getty Images

CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Saturday night that his cancer has returned and that he will undergo another surgery in Cuba.

Chavez, who won re-election on Oct. 7, also said for the first time that if his health were to worsen, his successor would be Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

"We should guarantee the advance of the Bolivarian Revolution," Chavez said on television, seated at the presidential palace with Maduro and other aides.

The president said that tests had shown a return of some cancerous cells and that he would return to Cuba on Sunday for the surgery, his third operation to remove cancerous tissue in about a year and a half.

He called it a "new battle."

The 58-year-old president first underwent cancer surgery for an unspecified type of pelvic cancer in Cuba in June 2011 and had another surgery last February after a tumor appeared in the same area. He has also undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

Chavez made his most recent trip to Cuba on the night of Nov. 27, saying he would receive hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Such treatment is regularly used to help heal tissues damaged by radiation treatment.

Chavez said he has been coping with pain. He said that he was requesting permission from lawmakers to travel and that he hoped to have good news after the surgery.

© 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
10 Comments Add a Comment
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quincytodd says:
This is indeed very bad news not only for Venezuela but for mankind on the whole. I see a lot of mindless Tea Partiers here doing their senseless anti-Chavez rants as usual spewing out their ignorance but then again, how would one of these idiots feel if they developped cancer themselves? At least Hugo Chavez doesn't carry out orders from Washington D.C. like a lot of other Corrupt and incompetent rulers and we need more people like him!
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js555554 replies:
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We didn't develop cancer and chavez did. All is right with the world.
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pitai says:
Some really vicious comments!!! You never know but the head transplant might work.
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marti21866 says:
No great loss! One down, several more to go! I hope the fires are scorching hot! Keep'em stroked, Satan!! Your boy's coming home.
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quincytodd replies:
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Another senseless comment from another weak minded Tea Partier, proving just how stupidity rules this country! How nauseating!
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js555554 says:
Stick a fork in him, he's done.
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Rachel262 says:
TO: 2andhalffield-expert

Good try....BUT, it's obvious that you're not a Board Certified Health OR Medical Physicist!!! Read "just" a little bit (a few pages even) about "The Latent Effects of Radiation"......Part Five, RADIATION PROTECTION (Bushong: Radiologic Science for Technologists) and/or Surgical Radiography (Marlowe) & perhaps (if you are sufficiently educated to manuever the BIOPHYSICS in those folks books) you may perhaps be in a better position to discuss this topic.

Additionally, make sure you understand the FIVE principal types of MOLECULAR COMPOSITION of the human body. Then, fully discuss the Law of Bergonie & Tribondeau as you relate the physical factors affecting radiosensitivity. Move on from there to "Relative Biologic Effectiveness & DON'T forget....."Fractionation & Protraction." Next, Remember "Biologic Factors AFFECTING RADIOSENSITIVITY before considering "Linear AND Non-Linear Dose-Response Relationships." After a quiet lifetime of studying Molecular & Cellular Radiobiology, come back & post another "OPINION" & the educated folks reading here "MAY"........."M A Y"................embrace your opinion. Until then, ask Marie Currie for a date (wherever she may be) & during that "GHOSTLY" encounter, explain to her that you are PROFOUNDLY sorry & greatly apologize for using her name in vain since in reality, you.......YES, YOU.......are less than educationally educated in general & NOT AT ALL educated in RADIATION PHYSICS!!!
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PatDaddy67 replies:
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Wow! They must have deleted 2andhalffield-expert's comment. Sounds like it must have been a doozie.
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bobbychuckles says:
Never thought in a million years that I'd be cheering on a few mutagenous cells.
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goffredo29 says:
Chavez es el que tiene la suerte. En esta epoca es mejor morir que vivir largo tiempo sin con que (o con quien) vivir. Qui potest capere capiat.
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