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Chavez makes absurd cancer claims
Venezuela’s renegade President Hugo Chavez alludes that the US may have given cancer to him and other South American leaders. The US state department says the comments are not worthy of further response.
Clockwise from top left: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, former Brazilian president Lula da Silva, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
Hugo Chavez said it was "very strange" that he and other leftist leaders had all had cancer however added that he was thinking out loud and was not making "rash accusations".
His absurd comments come in the wake of announcement that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was diagnosed with cancer, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Paraguay's Fernando Lugo had also previously been diagnosed with cancer.
"Would it be so strange that they've invented technology to spread cancer and no one knew it," Chavez said of the United States.
Chavez who had cancer treatment in Cuba this year said the instances of cancer among Latin American leaders were "difficult to explain using the law of probabilities".
The US has rejected his comments and a State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland called the comments "horrific and reprehensible".
Chavez , 57, said he is now free of cancer after having surgery and chemotherapy in Cuba earlier this year. The exact details of his illness have never been published, fuelling speculation that his condition may be worse than he has let on.
Argentina's premier Cristina Fernandez, 58, is due to have surgery for thyroid cancer on 4 January. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, 64, is fully recovered after having treatment for lymphoma in 2009.
Rousseff's predecessor, Lula da Silva, 66, is currently having treatment for throat cancer. Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, 60, was diagnosed with lymphoma.
