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PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ has returned to Venezuela after almost four weeks in Cuba recovering from cancer surgery.
Chavez underwent emergency surgery in the Caribbean nation last month shortly after arriving on a tour of Latin America, when he was first reported to have had an abscess removed from his pelvis.
Last week, the 56-year-old admitted he had undergone further surgery to remove a cancerous tumour – and the BBC now reports that Venezuelan state TV has aired footage of Chavez being seen off by Cuban leader Raul Castro and arriving back home.
In a later telephone interview he was “fine”, in good spirits, and very hungry.
Further, on Twitter, he wrote:
So here I am, at home nad very happy! Good morning, my beloved Venezuela! Hello dear people! Thank God! It is the beginning of the return!
His return, the BBC noted, comes a day before Venezuela’s national holiday. He will not be well enough to take part in the parade, but will follow proceedings from his palace.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has spoken of how impressed he was with the speed of Chavez’s recovery.
It was only natural that Chavez’s health would fail given how he had worked without a break since taking office in 1999, the elder Castro wrote in an essay published last night, adding:
Without hesitation I affirm that the results are impressive, and I did not hesitate to affirm that the patient has undertaken a decisive battle that will lead him, and with him Venezuela, to a great victory.
Castro also underlined earlier Venezuelan claims that Chavez had not known about his illness before travelling to Cuba – and had merely undergone treatment there shortly after his diagnoses.
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So Trump! Your new BFF is still playing you….as he has since the beginning. Nice photo opportunities though.
@Paul Furey: He’s not playing him. The fact is DPRK have nuclear weapons with long range now. This puts them automatically in a better bargaining position than they were before. It is a development that is completely independent of who happens to be president of another country. Trump has advisors for every step.
Is this submarine parked in the middle of a forest?
@Martin McFly: Very sneaky. Last place you’d look for it.
Meanwhile Iran‘s revolutionary guards reveal plan to annihilate Israel.
@Qfire: Its unfortunate that this has been largely ignored by the worlds press. You can be sure if Israeli leaders issued a statement promising to wipe an Islamic country off the map ( for the crime of Islamic nationalism) there’d be a media feeding frenzy.
@Clifford Brennan: Maybe it’s largely ignored because it’s not true? Israel wouldn’t be the first to make up a story to justify spending on their war machine.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: It was very decent of the Ayatollah & the commander from the IRGC to agree to appear in the Israeli propaganda video – not to mention the supporting cast of 1000′s of Iranians and all filmed at an Islamic religious venue too. Those Israelis have it sussed. Also: cop on.
North Korea is not going to be told not to have Nuclear Weapons by a leader whose country has had them for many many years, come in and blasted leaders and sent their soldiers to Hassan Hussein [having supplied him with weaponry] and when it did not suit them anymore… raped and pillaged Iraq. When are people going to think US are the good guys ? NKorea just flexing muscles.
That man is actually frightening. He’s like a little boy playing with his toys.
As you do before talks about nuclear arms enrichment.
have your say