Experts wary of Chavez's latest cancer treatment

Washington Post:
 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will undergo cancer surgery in Cuba for the third time in eight months as early as Monday, an indication that he may be facing an aggressive tumor that could spread throughout his body, oncologists and gastroenterologists say. 
In a country where Chavez makes all major decisions and pronouncements, details about his illness remain sketchy, with only the maximum leader revealing what he sees fit to disclose. But leading doctors who treat various forms of cancer, including those in the pelvic area where Chavez has been stricken, say the recent discovery of a one-inch formation points to a new, potentially critical stage for the president. 
“He is facing a delicate situation, one of great uncertainty and everything points to an aggressive tumor,” said Carlos Castro, a Colombian oncologist and scientific director of the Colombian League Against Cancer. “I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few months we hear about a small lesion elsewhere in his body, in a lung, or in the liver. That’s called metastasis.” 
Like Castro, Floriano Marchetti, a University of Miami professor who treats colon and rectal cancer, does not have direct knowledge of Chavez’s health. But Marchetti, too, has followed the president’s pronouncements about his fight with cancer, including the announcement last week that Cuban doctors would operate once more to remove what could be a malignant growth. 
“The guy had surgery, he had chemotherapy and less than a year later he is having the same problem in the same area,” Marchetti said, speaking by phone during a break in an operation he was conducting in Miami. “That obviously is a bad prognosticating indicator.”
... 
Chavez has also reportedly transferred  Venezuelan gold to Cuba apparently fearful it is not safe with him not around.  That sounds a little weird but it fits within his paranoid personality style.

Chavez clearly does not look healthy.  His weight has ballooned since he finished his chemo treatment.

He has created a thuggish culture in Venezuela.  It will take awhile for the country to survive his misrule.

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