Chávez announces return to Caracas
The information was released via the president's Twitter account, who will remain hospitalized: "We have arrived back in the Venezuelan homeland. Thank you, my God!! Thank you, beloved people!! Here we will continue the treatment. Thank you to Fidel, Raúl, and all of Cuba!!"; on Friday, the Venezuelan government released the first photos of Chávez since the operation.
247 with international agencies - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced on Monday (18), via Twitter, that he has returned to Caracas after more than two months of hospitalization in Havana to fight cancer. His arrival was also announced on Facebook, at 2:30 am local time.
"We have arrived back in our Venezuelan homeland. Thank you, my God!! Thank you, beloved people!! Here we will continue the treatment," he said on Twitter.
"Thank you to Fidel, Raúl, and all of Cuba!! Thank you to Venezuela for so much love!!"
"I remain clinging to Christ and confident in my doctors and nurses. Onward to victory, always!! We will live and we will overcome!!"
On Friday, the Venezuelan government released the first photos of Chávez since the operation.
The photos, which were broadcast on national television, show the president accompanied by his two daughters, laughing and reading a newspaper, lying in a hospital bed in Havana.
"The respiratory infection that arose during the postoperative period has been controlled, although a certain degree of insufficiency persists. Given this circumstance, which is being treated, the commander is currently breathing through a tracheostomy tube, which temporarily makes speaking difficult," said the Minister of Communication, Ernesto Villegas, reading a statement.
A tracheal cannula is a tube that is placed in the patient through an opening created by a tracheostomy to allow for proper breathing. The photos do not show Chávez's neck.
The minister assured that Chávez remains in "communication" with his government team, despite the statement claiming that he has difficulty speaking.
The release of the photos comes days after Vice President Nicolás Maduro said that Chávez was receiving "tough" and "complex" complementary treatments after completing his post-operative period.
In his statements, which were less optimistic than his previous reports on the president's health, Maduro did not provide further details.
Rumors about Chávez's true situation continue to circulate.
He did not attend the inauguration ceremony for his new presidential term on January 10, but officials governing the country during his absence assure that he will return once he has recovered from surgery.