CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez acknowledged for the first time today he may need radiotherapy or chemotherapy for cancer treatment that has rattled the OPEC member nation he has dominated for 12 years.
The 56-year-old socialist leader’s most detailed comments to date on his condition raised the prospect of a lengthy health battle. Such a scenario could undermine Chavez’s ability to govern Venezuela and run for re-election in 2012.
In a lengthy, dawn telephone chat with state TV, an unusually self-reflective Chavez said his operation last month in Cuba had removed a “baseball-size” tumor.
The threat of malignant cells spreading remained “latent” and needed robust treatment, he added.
“It will probably require known methods … that could be radiotherapy or chemotherapy to hit hard, with the cavalry, whatever latent possibility is there,” Chavez said.
The president said he was undergoing organ-by-organ checks.
“I don’t want, I mustn’t give more details,” he said.
Mystery and rumor have surrounded Chavez’s precise condition since surgery in Cuba last month.
