Chávez returns after undergoing chemo in Cuba, vows 2012 run

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez made a surprise return home on Saturday night following an initial-stage chemotherapy treatment he underwent in Cuba.

Chávez, who had surgery in June to remove a cancerous tumor, announced plans to run for re-election in 2012, saying that he "never thought for even an instant of retiring from the presidency."

"I have medical reasons, scientific reasons, human reasons, reasons of love and political reasons to keep myself at the front of the government and the candidacy with more force than before," Chávez told the pro-government daily Correo del Orinoco .

The president, who turns 57 on Thursday, said that his friend and mentor, former Cuban president Fidel Castro, told him that he had no malignant cells in his body following tests taken at the Havana hospital.

"He told me they found nothing. I have never heard such a short speech by Fidel," Chávez joked.

Several contenders from the opposition have already launched their candidacies but deep rifts still plague the political parties, making it difficult for one person to emerge as Chávez's top challenger.

On Tuesday, the Venezuelan president announced the creation of a new ministry for penitentiaries, an oversight body to monitor the system and initiate much-needed reforms in what human rights groups claim are the most overcrowded prisons in South America. "We have to change the prisons so that they can become centers of rehabilitation, and when an inmate is released he or she will be transformed and ready to integrate into society," Chávez said.

Prison siege over

The new ministry comes in the wake of a 27-day standoff between security forces and inmates at Venezuela's notorious El Rodeo prison outside Caracas that ended on July 13. A gang of about 100 prisoners held their fellow inmates hostage following a raid organized to confiscate weapons and drugs inside the facility. About two dozen inmates died during the standoff, which took place while Chávez was undergoing surgery in Cuba.

Iris Varela, a lawmaker who was picked by Chávez to head the new ministry, said one of her first jobs is to review each inmate's case in an effort to help ease overcrowding. "I am sure that by conducting an exhaustive review there is going to be a large percentage of those who will go free," she said.