Chavez to get cancer treatment in Brazil: state media

BRASILIA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will undergo new treatment for cancer in Brazil after his June operation in Cuba, Brazil's official news agency reported Friday.

Chavez spoke with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to work out details of the treatment that will take place at a Sao Paulo hospital, reported Agencia Brasil, which did not indicate its sources.

Rousseff's office declined to comment on the report.

Chavez acknowledged Wednesday he may need chemotherapy for cancer, but he denied that a huge tumor "almost as big as a basketball" had spread to his colon or his stomach.

The 56-year-old firebrand leader was operated on last month in Cuba to remove a cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. He remained on the Caribbean island for a month to recuperate before returning to Venezuela last week.

Since his return, Chavez has only made brief appearances on state television to try to scotch rumors of a power vacuum at the top as speculation has swirled that he has cancer of the colon or the stomach.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011