Thursday, December 29, 2011


Chavez suspects US hand behind cancer among leftist leaders

Posted: Thu Dec 29 2011, 16:32 hrsWashington:


Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks during a ceremony launching a new housing project by the government in Caracas. (Reuters)
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Has the United States developed a secret technology to target Latin America's left-wing leaders with cancer?
Outspoken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, himself afflicted with cancer, has raised this question though he has no proof. President of Paraguay Fernando Lugo, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have also had cancer.

Treated for cancer this year, Chavez was speaking a day after news that Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had thyroid cancer.

Chavez, 57, prefaced his remarks at a military event in Caracas yesterday by saying, "I don't want to make any reckless accusations."

"Would it be strange if (the United States) had developed a technology to induce cancer, and for no one to know it?" he asked.

Even "with the law of probabilities, what has been happening to some of us in Latin America... it's strange, very strange," he said.

Chavez cited the revelation this year that the US, between 1946 and 1948, had carried out human experiments in Guatemala where subjects were exposed to sexually transmitted diseases. "I don't know. I'm just putting the thought out there," Chavez was quoted as saying by CNN.

He also joked that he would now take extra care of the presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador - Evo Morales and Rafael Correa - lest they also be diagnosed with cancer.

The Venezuelan president, known for his firm anti-US stance, has repeatedly said Washington is trying to destabilise his government.

Chavez says he is now free of cancer after having surgery and chemotherapy in Cuba earlier this year. The exact details of his illness have not been made public, fuelling speculation that his condition may be worse than he has let on.

Lula and Chavez have previously joked that they would hold a summit of Latin American leaders who had beaten cancer.
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