Argentine president gives thanks for support over cancer

Dec 28, 2011, 18:09 GMT

Buenos Aires - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said thank you Wednesday for the support she had received since it became public that she suffers from thyroid cancer.

'Can you imagine who was the first one who called? Hugo Chavez,' Fernandez de Kirchner said.

Venezuelan President Chavez is himself recovering from cancer, as is former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Current Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo have also had cancer in recent years.

Chavez had joked about holding a congress of recovering presidents, Fernandez de Kirchner said.

'You and your congress of those who overcame cancer ... I'm going to fight you and everyone else for the honorary presidency,' Fernandez de Kirchner quipped about his comments.

She is to have surgery for thyroid cancer on January 4, her office announced late Tuesday. A presidential spokesman said she would take leave from her official duties until January 24, while Vice President Amado Boudou acts in her stead.

'There is no metastasis and the conclusion is that the illness is isolated in the thyroid gland,' Alfredo Scoccimarro said.

'The illness occurs more frequently in women than in men, and the operation should be simple and free of risk.'

The president began her second term on December 10 after being re-elected with more than 54 per cent of the vote.

Fernandez de Kirchner postponed a trip to Chile that had been scheduled for January.

She asked the governors of Argentine provinces to support Boudou while he acts as head of state.

Experts have noted that the type of cancer from which Fernandez de Kirchner is suffering is curable in 90 per cent of cases.