Latin America: Week in Review, Venezuela

Hugo Chávez Says Doctors Removed Cancerous Tumor; No Word On Return To Venezuela

July 1, 2011 By Staff

Today in Latin America

Top Story — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced last night on state-run television that doctors had removed a cancerous tumor while in Cuba. Chávez said the “abscessed tumor with cancerous cells” required continuing treatment in Cuba, but did explain what type of treatment, where the tumor was located or when he would return to Venezuela. The Venezuelan president added there were no complications to his second surgery and that his medical condition has been progressing “satisfactorily.” Chávez, who is notorious for his impassioned, improvised speeches, read for about 15-minutes from a prepared speech. “Throughout my life, I’ve been making the fundamental error of neglecting my health and been reluctant to get checkups,” Chávez said.

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Just Published at the Latin America News Dispatch

Headlines from the Western Hemisphere

North America

Caribbean

  • Cuba’s leading dissident, Oscar Elias Biscet, said he “was shaking with happiness” as he learned Thursday that rock star and social activist Bono had sung his praises during a jam-packed U2 concert in Miami.
  • Haitian President Michel Martelly must urgently rehouse homeless quake survivors still living in camps nearly a year and a half after the disaster, and meet the basic needs of those who remain in urban slums, says a new report from the International Crisis Group.

Central America

Andes

  • Venezuela’s telecommunications agency began a new investigation of the TV channel Globovision on Thursday, this time for its coverage of violence at two prisons where inmates have battled troops.
  • A Colombian drug kingpin who pleaded guilty to smuggling thousands of kilos of cocaine into the United States was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the Justice Department said Thursday.
  • Bolivia’s government has informed the United Nations it is renouncing the world body’s anti-drug convention because it classifies coca leaf as an illegal drug, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Southern Cone

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