Chávez surgery throws Venezuela into uncertainty

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has never been one to share decision-making authority. Now, the voluble socialist strongman may have no choice but to designate a successor.

His announcement that he will go to Cuba within a week to remove a growth that he says is likely malignant could not come at a worse moment.

With a tight re-election campaign brewing for the president, analysts said Wednesday that Venezuela could be thrown into turmoil because Chávez has resisted grooming a successor during his 13 years in power.

"I promise I will fight without respite for my life," the 57-year-old Chávez tweeted Wednesday.

Chávez conceded in sharing his bad news that he could be out of action for weeks.

"I'm not going to be able to continue with the same rhythm," he told state TV by telephone late Tuesday. He said he would need to "rethink my personal agenda and take care of myself, confront what must be confronted."

Chávez did not mention who might replace him during an absence that cancer specialists say could last weeks if the leader has to undergo radiation treatment, as he himself said he expected.

Chávez said the same doctors who removed a baseball-size cancerous tumour from his pelvic region in June would be operating on him.

Rumours denied

He denied rumours the cancer had spread aggressively, but also said his doctors don't know if the new two-centimetre lesion they found over the weekend is malignant.

The former paratrooper met Wednesday with his inner circle, with a central topic bound to be how to combat the opposition's presidential candidate - Henrique Capriles, an athletic 39-year-old state governor.

The president of the Chávez-controlled National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, told reporters that Chávez remained the ruling party's candidate.

"There is a false belief that associates cancer with death," he said. "That's not how it is, because you can overcome it with love, and the president has a bounty of that."

Chávez is expected to travel to Cuba today, Friday or Saturday, Cabello said.

Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College in the United States, said Chávez is now, finally, heeding medical advice after insisting on maintaining a physically demanding schedule of travel and marathon speeches.

But is he also listening to political advice about naming a successor?

"The key question is whether he is beginning to pay attention to advice from all those forces, ranging from family members to political operators, telling him to come forward with a succession plan," Corrales said.

There are no obvious choices, since Chávez has constantly demoted anyone who could outshine him, Corrales added.

During his periods of convalescence last year, Chávez delegated some administrative duties to Vice President Elias Jaua and to his planning and finance minister, Jorge Giordani.

But Jaua apparently has lost favour since then, along with another longtime member of Chávez's inner circle, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. Both still hold their posts, but Chávez recently demoted them by choosing them as his party's candidates in gubernatorial elections next year.

One possible stand for the president is his older brother, Adan, who is governor in Chávez's home state of Barinas. He appeared at Chávez's side Tuesday.

Physicians consulted by The Associated Press said it was impossible to offer an assessment of Chávez's health based on the limited information provided Tuesday by the leader, who had four rounds of chemotherapy from July to September.

But some said finding a malignant tumour in the same place one was removed less than a year ago was not a good sign.

"A relapse within a year means the tumour is very aggressive," said Dr Sebastian Quintero, a leading Colombian oncologist.

- AP