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(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY NICHOLE CARTMELL
ANCHOR LOGAN TITTLE
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to Cuba Wednesday for
more medical treatment. Here’s WTVJ with the details.
“Venezuela’s National
Assembly voted yesterday to grant Chavez permission to travel to Cuba for hyperbaric oxygenation
therapy, which involves breathing pure oxygen while all inside a pressurized chamber.”
The
Wall Street Journal reports doctors in Cuba found a large tumor in Mr. Chavez’s pelvis
in June of last year.
“[He] underwent three surgeries to treat his ailment and submitted
to several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment over the subsequent 12 months, mostly
in near secret in Cuba.”
Bloomberg Businessweek reports during his campaign for
re-election Mr. Chavez told voters he was “totally free” of the disease. But Eric
Farnsworth, the vice president of the Council of the Americas, says this trip fuels speculation
the president’s health is much worse than he says.
“You’d anticipate that if
he really were doing well he’d want to show that publicly. It’s difficult to know what’s
really going on because this is probably the tightest kept state secret in Venezuela.”
And
El Universal notes Mr. Chavez’s low public visibility since being re-elected in October.
A survey shows the president’s appearances in October totaled just over 14 hours. Much
of this time was spent making governmental acts. But over the course of November he’s
appeared no more than 9 hours.
Latino Daily News says it is not known when Mr. Chavez
will return to Venezuela, but he is expected to address the National Assembly on January
10 to outline his government plan for the next 6 years.