Hugo Chavez names successor as cancer returns

Hugo Chavez names successor as cancer returns

Hugo Chavez has named Nicolas Maduro, his vice president and a radical foreign minster, as his chosen successor after announcing he was heading to Cuba for treatment following the return of cancer.

The Venezuelan president, who has previously undergone two operations, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, said in a televised address from the presidential palace that Mr Maduro, a former bus driver, should succeed "if something were to happen that would incapacitate me."

Mr Chavez said: "There are risks. Who can deny it? In any circumstance, we should guarantee the advance of the Bolivarian Revolution. I hope to give you all good news in the coming days. With the grace of God, we'll come out victorious.

"My firm opinion, as clear as the full moon - irrevocable, absolute, total - is that you elect Nicolas Maduro as president. I ask this of you from my heart. He is one of the young leaders with the greatest ability to continue, if I cannot."

Mr Chavez, 58, who has remained secretive about the details of his cancer, said he had suffered a return of "malignant cells" in the same area where tumours were removed before.

The Venezuelan government has previously said the problem is in his pelvic area.

Some outside medical experts have said that, based on the accounts Mr Chavez has given of his condition and the treatment so far, they doubt the cancer can be cured.

He had been in Cuba until Friday when he returned to Venezuela, and was heading back to Cuba for surgery on Sunday.

Mr Chavez said he had decided on the short visit back to Venezuela "making an additional effort, in truth, because the pain is not insignificant."

He won re-election to a new six-year term on Oct 7 and is due to be sworn in on Jan 10.

If a president-elect died before taking office that would trigger a new election within 30 days under the Venezuelan constitution.

In the October election Mr Chavez's opponent Henrique Capriles won 44 per cent and a record 6.5 million votes for the opposition.

Mr Maduro, 50, a former trade union leader, has been foreign minister since 2006 and has previously referred to the United States as a "sick society."

After being detained at New York's John F Kennedy Airport in 2006, he called the US a "racist, Nazi government."