Venezuela's Chavez returns after treatment

First messages since November 1 on president's Twitter announce "we will continue our treatment here". Last Modified: 18 Feb 2013 11:14

A recent handout photo shows Chavez with his daughters in Cuba, where he was undergoing treatment [AFP]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned home to Venezuela after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery. Chavez, 58, announced his return in a series of messages on Monday on his Twitter account, and aides confirmed the news. They were the first messages to appear on Chavez's Twitter account since November 1. "We have arrived back in the Venezuelan fatherland. Thanks, my God! Thanks, my beloved people! Here we will continue the treatment," Chavez said via Twitter. "I'm clinging to Christ and trusting in my doctors and nurses," he said in another tweet. "Onward toward victory always!! We will live and we will triumph!!" There had been speculation Chavez was unwell enough to travel despite wanting to return to his homeland for continued treatment for the disease he was first diagnosed with in mid-2011. But Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Chavez flew in at about 2:30am local time from Havana and was in a military hospital in Caracas. "We're so happy," Maduro said. Chavez's overnight return will thrill supporters in the South American nation of 29 million people, where his common touch and welfare policies have made him an idol to the poor. Fireworks going off Fireworks could be heard going off in some neighbourhoods of Caracas, the capital, as the news spread and celebrations begun among Chavistas. Venezuelan ministers were jubilant, one singing "He's back, he's back!" live on state TV. Given that ministers said he wanted to return when he was well enough to travel, Chavez's arrival implied some improvement in his condition, at least enough to handle a flight of several hours. But aides have emphasised in recent days his state remains "complex". Chavez underwent a six-hour operation in Cuba on December 11 - his fourth for the cancer first detected in his pelvic area in June, 2011. He had not been seen or heard in public since then until photos were published of him on Friday, showing him lying in hospital. Officials said he was breathing through a tracheal tube and struggling to speak. Jacob k