Chavez heads for Cuba for medical checkup

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez left for Cuba on Sunday to receive a thorough medical exam after four rounds of chemotherapeutic treatment for his cancer, local official media reported. The visit is to "continue a process I have been following for about four months," he told the VTV channel before the departure, adding that the checkup would confirm "there are no malignant cells" in his body. The 57-year-old Venezuelan leader has promised to inform the Venezuelan people of the results. Chavez spent most of June in Havana, where he first had a surgery in which doctors removed a pelvic abscess, and then underwent a second operation in which an unspecified cancerous tumor was removed. He has not yet provided any details of what kind of cancer he was treated for. After completing a fourth round of chemotherapy in Cuba last month, Chavez said that he was in a process of plain recovery and would not need any more chemotherapy. Chavez announced earlier this year that he would run for a new term in the October 2012 election. Polls in the Latin American country showed that Chavez enjoys broad public support.