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. / 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.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack 213 Comments
- Who were the 4 U.S. citizens killed in drone strikes?
- Graphic video: Man dead in "truly shocking" London attack Play Video
- Mexican volcano on verge of eruption 15 Photos
- People cling to car in "sidewalk skiing" stunt Play Video
- Volcano's rumbles may signal coming to life Play Video
- Man, 80, becomes oldest to climb to top of Mount Everest
- London soldier slaying homegrown Islamic extremism?















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!!!