Quiet Return of Hugo Chavez Raises Doubts

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez arrived yesterday morning at his country from Cuba in the midst of an unusual arrival with no public events and just with brief comments broadcast on state television.

Chavez arrived to Caracas at around 00:50  after spending eleven days in Havana following the radiation treatment that was prescribed to him after undergoing last February an operation to remove a new tumor.

“I am very happy to be here again, although I never really leave, but physically,” the president said in a conversation with several of his ministers from which state television VTV broadcast a fragment.

Chavez did not comment, at least not publicly, about his health or on the following treatment after surgery.

The president, who exhibited new haircut, looked strong and appeared to have less weight.

Later, Chavez greeted his followers and ministers with a phone call to an act of his party and they called for unity against “psychological warfare” of the enemy.

He asked not to be “confused” with the “dirty campaign of psychological warfare,” which he attributed to “opposing ranks.”

This return, contrary to the above, was not the media hype. There was no television to convey its arrival. The rumors were sparked more strongly, published daily El Universal. (FL)