Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was in Cuba on Sunday to begin chemotherapy treatment after a cancerous tumour was found and removed recently from his pelvic area. He was greeted at the airport by Cuban President Raul Castro and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez when he arrived late Saturday.
"I must complete this new step," Chavez said in Caracas before his departure, according to an AFP journalist. "I am going for a few days but I am not saying goodbye. I will return better." "It is not time for dying; it's time to live," Chavez stressed.
The 56-year-old president gave a televised speech shortly before leaving Caracas, saying, "I have to say I am optimistic. I have never loved life the way I am loving it now."