Chavez Back in Cuba for New Cancer Treatment

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was back in Cuba on Wednesday for further cancer treatment just weeks after being re-elected to a new six-year term, the state-run Granma newspaper reported.

The newspaper said Chavez arrived at dawn and would be undergoing several sessions of hyperbaric oxygenation, the breathing of pure oxygen in a sealed and pressurized chamber.

Chavez, who had said in July that he was cancer-free, disclosed his travel plans in a letter to the National Assembly that left unclear whether he had suffered a relapse.

The 58-year-old, who has been in power since 1999 and gained international prominence as an anti-American firebrand, appeared weak and subdued during the presidential campaign but won a third term that extends to 2018.

That came as a massive relief to his closest ally Cuba, the Americas' only one-party Communist nation. The crippled Cuban economy depends heavily on Venezuelan aid and cut-rate oil.

In the letter, Chavez said he had been zealously following a "complementary treatment plan" ordered by his doctors, despite the intense re-election campaign.

They recommended undergoing "a special treatment consisting of various sessions of hyperbaric oxygenation along with physiotherapy to continue to consolidate the strengthening health I have been experiencing," he said.

Chavez, who has never disclosed the type or severity of the cancer he had, underwent surgery to remove a tumor in his pelvic region last year in Cuba. This was followed by multiple rounds of chemotherapy after the cancer returned.