Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez makes surprise return from Cuba

A supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a copy of a photograph of Chavez released by the Ministry of Information, during a gathering at Plaza Bolivar in Caracas.
Credit: Reuters

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a surprise return from Cuba on Monday, more than two months after surgery for cancer that has jeopardized his 14-year rule of the South American OPEC nation.

The middle-of-the-night homecoming by Chavez, 58, implies some medical improvement – at least enough to handle a flight of several hours – and will again fire up supporters with hope he could return to active rule.

Yet there was no new information on the socialist leader’s condition, nor images of his arrival, and aides say his condition remains “complex.”

Chavez could be returning to govern behind the scenes or could be hoping to ease political tensions in Venezuela and smooth a transition to Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

Chavez has urged voters to back Maduro should he have to stand down and a new presidential election be held.

“We have returned to the Venezuelan fatherland. Thank you, my God! Thank you, my beloved people! We will continue the treatment here,” Chavez said via Twitter after flying in.

Maduro said Chavez flew in at about 2:30 a.m. (2 a.m. ET) from Havana and was taken to a military hospital in Caracas.

Until photos were published of him on Friday, Chavez had not been seen by the public since a six-hour operation in Cuba on December 11.

There had been speculation Chavez was not well enough to travel despite wanting to return for continued treatment for the disease, which was first diagnosed in mid-2011.

“I remain attached to Christ and trusting in my nurses and doctors,” the president also tweeted on Monday. “Onwards to victory forever! We will live and we will conquer!”

The tweets were his first direct communication with the outside world since he went to Cuba in December.

His return thrilled supporters in the country of 29 million people, where his common touch and heavy spending on welfare policies have made him an idol to many of the poor.

“It’s fabulous news, the best thing possible,” Chavez’s cousin, Guillermo Frias, told Reuters from the president’s rural birthplace in Barinas state. “Venezuela was waiting for him, everyone wants to see him. Welcome home! Thank God he’s back!”