Chavez to do third round of chemotherapy at home

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he would soon undergo a third round of chemotherapy in his battle against cancer -- but at home, not in Cuba, where he had previously received treatment. "We've decided after a meeting with my medical team, because the conditions are right, to do this third round in Venezuela instead of going to Cuba," Chavez told local media on Saturday. "We should begin the third round tomorrow (Sunday)," he said later as a group of supporters sang and danced to his health at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. "This treatment is necessary to ensure that the cancer I had does not come back," Chavez added, before setting off to the military hospital in the Venezuelan capital, where he said he would stay until Thursday or Friday. While he said the treatment would take him out of the public eye for "a few days," he nevertheless added: "I will be on Twitter." "The third round should be a bit easier, though the first two were not that bad," he said. Chavez, 57, has said he underwent surgery in Cuba in June for a malignant tumor in his pelvic area. He has not offered more detailed information on his cancer, for which he underwent chemotherapy in Cuba in July and August. Since then Chavez has reduced his public appearances, lost some weight and his hair from his cancer treatment. He says he has been working on physical therapy and a recovery plan that requires him to work fewer hours than normal. But the leftist populist, a former paratrooper and staunch critic of the United States who has been in power since 1999, says he will run in and win the 2012 presidential race. Earlier this week, Chavez said any further chemotherapy would be "preventive." "I had this illness and now we are preparing my body and soul so that it does not come back," he said Saturday, when he was shown on television meeting with his key ministers.