Chavez arrives in Cuba for more cancer treatment

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Cuba early Sunday for a new round of cancer treatment, following his surgery here earlier this year to remove a malignant tumor, media reports said. Chavez was warmly embraced by President Raul Castro on arrival at Jose Marti airport around midnight, the state-run newspaper Juventud Rebelde said on its website, describing the Venezuelan leader's demeanor as "animated" and upbeat. Chavez, who left Caracas's Maiquetia International Airport late Saturday, arrived in Havana at around midnight (0500 GMT Sunday). He said in a message broadcast on radio and television before his departure that he would begin his course of radiation treatment in communist Cuba on Sunday and that it likely would take "four or five weeks." News of Chavez's cancer -- and this latest extended medical treatment for it -- comes at an awkward time for the Venezulan leader, who is is the thick of what is expected to be a tough reelection campaign. He faces a stiff challenge in October elections from 39-year-old businessman Henrique Capriles, who was chosen as the sole candidate to run against him by a unified opposition and who could benefit from the president's medical problems. Chavez, 57, underwent surgery in Havana on February 26 to remove a cancerous tumor around the pelvis, the same area from where a first tumor was extracted in June last year. Officials in Caracas have never specified what type of cancer the president is suffering from, but they have denied the disease has spread to other organs. Chavez said the radiation therapy would be applied to the same areas where he had surgery, without specific details. He was "eating and moving without any difficulty," following last month's surgery, he added in an announcement in the middle of a council of ministers in the Miraflores Palace, where he told his team that he would remain active in the government. "I will be calling, signing, reading," he said. "Today, radiation therapy and gradually I will again assume my role at the forefront and succeed." Chavez, who is running for a third term as president, has ruled out the possibility of a replacement candidate. The Venezuelan leader has used the country's vast oil wealth on popular social programs and to help keep afloat his communist ally Cuba, even as he courted anti-US states such as Iran and Syria. His arrival in Cuba coincides with that of Pope Benedict XVI, who is due for a two-day visit to the island.