Chavez battling for his life, Venezuela’s VP says

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro says President Hugo Chavez is fighting for his life in a military hospital in the capital Caracas.

Speaking on Venezuelan television on Thursday, Maduro said that Chavez was “battling for his health, for his life and we are accompanying him.”

“Our commander is sick because he gave his life for those who don’t have anything,” he added.

On February 18, Chavez returned to Caracas from Cuba, where he had cancer surgery.

The 58-year-old leader, who traveled to Havana on December 10, 2012, underwent a fourth round of surgery after his cancer reappeared, despite a year and a half of treatment.

In late March 2012, Chavez began radiation treatment in Cuba after undergoing an operation in February 2012 that removed a second cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. Chavez’s first tumor, which was baseball-sized, was removed in June 2011, and then he received chemotherapy.

Chavez, who came to power in 1999, was reelected to a new six-year term in October.