Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, has finally returned to the public eye, describing in a nationwide address that doctors had diagnosed him with cancer, following furious speculation about the true state of his health.
In his first live appearance since undergoing emergency pelvic surgery in Cuba on 10 June, Chávez said doctors had removed "cancerous cells" from his body. "This [is] the new battle that life has placed before us," he said.
Flanked by a Venezuelan flag and a portrait of Simón Bolívar, the South American liberator, Chávez said he had committed a "fundamental mistake" in not taking better care of his own health.
