Paraguay's Lugo travels to Brazil for early medical check

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo traveled to Brazil today, bringing forward a routine check-up following his cancer treatment last year and cancelling a planned trip to Peru due to a severe cold.

Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, was declared in remission from cancer in November 2010, four months after he started chemotherapy to treat his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He has been undergoing check-ups every two or three months at the Sao Paulo hospital where he has been receiving treatment and was due to travel there tomorrow or the day after.

But Communications Minister Augusto Dos Santos said Lugo would travel today to undergo routine studies to evaluate his health. "He will continue with the scheduled check-ups," Dos Santos said without providing further details.

Lugo, an ally of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who is being treated for cancer himself, had cut back on his activities since Monday due to a severe cold that forced him to cancel his trip to Peru for the presidential inauguration of Ollanta Humala.