Argentina's president to undergo surgery for cancer

Argentina''s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is scheduled to temporarily hand over power on Wednesday as she undergoes thyroid cancer surgery. Doctors were set to operate on the President at Austral Hospital, located about 60 kilometers (35 miles) outside Buenos Aires, the state-run (Telam) news agency reported. She will hand over power to Vice President Amado Boudou until January 24, officials have said. Supporters gathered outside the hospital Tuesday, posting banners and flags on a surrounding gate. Some set up camp for an overnight vigil. Recent medical tests uncovered papillary carcinoma in Fernandez''s thyroid gland, presidential spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro said last week. The cancer has not spread to her lymph nodes or grown beyond the thyroid gland, he said. Fernandez, 58, was sworn in for a second four-year term last month after she won re-election with more than 54% of the vote. She became Argentina''s president in 2007. During her presidency, Argentina''s economy has enjoyed sustained growth of about 8% annually. Recently doctors have diagnosed several current and former South American leaders with cancer. Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin''s lymphoma in 2010. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that doctors had diagnosed him with cancer in June. He did not specify what kind of cancer he had, but after undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy, he said in October that he had been cured. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff overcame cancer while she was a candidate for the office, and former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is undergoing treatment for throat cancer. (QNA) LY