BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next month, a government spokesman said today, adding that the cancerous cells had not spread.
Fernandez, 58, was easily re-elected to a second four-year term in October and her new government was sworn in earlier this month.
Fernandez was diagnosed with a papillary carcinoma that has not metastasized, said her spokesman, Alfredo Scoccimarro. The operation is scheduled to take place on Jan. 4 and she is expected to take a leave of absence until Jan. 24.
“If everything is as they said officially, she shouldn’t have any other problem. The sickness hasn’t spread,” said Buenos Aires-based oncologist Mario Bruno.
Papillary carcinoma is the most common type of thyroid cancer and normally affects people under the age of 40, especially women.
A skilled orator fond of glamorous clothes and make-up, Fernandez still wears black as she mourns her husband and closest advisor, former President Nestor Kirchner, who died late last year.
When Kirchner died, many thought it spelled the end of the couple’s idiosyncratic blend of state intervention, nationalist rhetoric and the championing of human rights.
But Fernandez pulled off a remarkable political comeback on the back of brisk economic growth and an outpouring of public sympathy. She was re-elected with 54 percent of the vote, vowing to deepen her unorthodox economic policies.
The fiery president is popular among many Argentines who have benefited from her hefty welfare spending but she is often criticized by business leaders for her heavy-handed management of the economy.
She is one of several Latin American leaders to have cancer.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez underwent chemotherapy earlier this year while Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo’s lymphatic cancer is in remission.
