The Venezuelan patient

摘要

Little more than seven months before he is due to face a presidential election, Hugo Chavez is to undergo a third opera tion for the cancer that was diagnosed last June. Following a swirl of rumours over carnival weekend, Venezuela's president himself confirmed on February 21st that a "small lesion" had been detected during tests carried out days earlier during a secret trip to Cuba. This was "very likely" to prove malignant, though Mr Chavez insist ed there was no metastasis.