Venezuela's Chávez lands in Cuba for treatment

Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías returned to Cuba on Easter Sunday for a third round of radiation therapy.

Cuba's President Raúl Castro warmly received Chávez on his arrival here before dawn at Havana's international airport, the state newspaper Juventud Rebelde said.

The Venezuelan leader, who has twice undergone surgery in Cuba to remove cancerous tumours, flew to Havana after telling his cabinet he was leaving to "continue battling for life."

"Heading for Havana with faith in Resurrected Christ," Chávez tweeted from the airport in Caracas overnight. "We'll keep living and keep winning!"

Chávez spent time with family members in his native state of Barinas in the west of the country between courses of radiation treatment.

Chávez, 57, who is facing a tough re-election fight this year, is expected to undergo five weeks of radiation treatment in Havana, but has planned to return home for brief periods during that time.

He underwent the first two rounds of treatment in Havana, where he underwent surgery last month to take out a malignant tumor in the same area where another tumor was removed in June 2011.

Officials in Caracas have never specified the type of cancer the president has, but insist it has not spread to other organs.

After months of brave faces and reassuring words, Chávez made an emotional prayer at an Easter mass last week that put his health and political future in the spotlight.

Chávez attended Holy Thursday mass in Barinas wearing a rosary around his neck. With his voice breaking, he asked God: "Please don't take me yet.

"Give me your crown of thorns, Christ, I will bleed," the president continued. "Give me your cross, 100 crosses - and I will carry them for you. But give me life, because I still have things to do for my people and my country."