Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that his cancer has returned and he will have to return immediately to Cuba for another round of surgery to remove it.
Chavez announced that he would return to Cuba on Sunday, after doctors there determined that “some malignant cells” had returned, months after physicians there treated him and pronounced him cancer-free.
The firebrand leader made the announcement after undergoing cancer-related treatment again in Cuba this week, and despite frequent assurances on the campaign trail before his re-election in October that he had been cured of cancer.
Chavez did not specify what kind of cancer he has, but told Venezuelan television and radio that it is “in the same area that was affected” previously.
Recurring bouts of cancer have dogged his presidency for the past couple of years, requiring to him spends weeks at a time being treated in Cuba.
The Venezuelan leader said that in the event that he is incapacitated by his illness, his vice president and heir apparent Nicolas Maduro would govern the country.