Chavez Back in Havana for Surgery

HAVANA TIMES — Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez arrived at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport early Monday morning, where he was welcomed by Cuban President Raul Castro and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, reported the official media on the island.

Chavez announced on Friday in Caracas that malignant cells have again been detected in his body and therefore it’s “absolutely essential” to undergo further surgery, which is why he has returned to Havana.

The president asked Venezuelans on national television that — in case something happens to him — they should “elect Nicolas Maduro as president.”

The Venezuelan leader was diagnosed and operated on for cancer in June 2011 in Cuba, and since then has undergone three additional surgeries.