video transcript

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez bids an emotional farewell to thousands of supporters ahead of his departure for cancer surgery in Cuba. The announcement that he needs another operation for a likely malignant lesion raises doubts about Chavez's previous claims of full recovery. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT, SAYING: "I say it from my gut: with cancer or without cancer, with water or without water, if it rains, if there's thunder and lightning, nothing and nobody can avoid the new great patriotic victory on October 7, 2012. Now more than ever, we are obligated, obligated to live, obligated to triumph, obligated to overcome." Chavez says he may need radiotherapy treatment after the operation scheduled for early next week in Havana. Ahead of the announcement of his new surgery, polls gave Chavez a small edge in the election, a fact analysts attribute to his popularity among the poor and an increase in welfare spending for the most needy. Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters