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Chavez Going Back to Cuba for Treatment

Will this time undergo chemotherapy

By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 16, 2011 5:48 AM CDT

(Newser) – Hugo Chavez is returning to Cuba today for further cancer treatment, which this time will include chemotherapy in order to, as he says, "armor the body against new malignant cells." Chavez made the surprise announcement yesterday, reports the AP, asking lawmakers' permission to return to the country where he had a baseball-sized cancerous tumor removed in June. It's not clear how long he plans on staying this time around.

"This second phase will begin in the next days with the application of chemotherapy, scientifically planned, in detail," Chavez said. "I am sure, I repeat, that the second stage will contribute to following the path to the recuperation of my health." Venezuela's legislature was to meet this morning to grant Chavez permission, with an opposition lawmaker saying they hoped for "a medical report that dispels doubts for all Venezuelans about what the president's true state of health is."

In this undated file photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro meet in an unknown location in Havana, Cuba. (AP Photo/Cubadebate, Estudios Revolucion, File)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez waves during the welcoming ceremony of Peruvian President elect Ollanta Humala at the Miraflores presidential palace on July 15, 2011. (Getty Images)

Hugo Chavez, waves flanked by his daughters Rosa Virginia, right, and Gabriela, after he announced he will return to Cuba to begin a new phase of cancer treatment that will include chemotherapy, Friday,... (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

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