Hugo Chavez has named Nicolas Maduro, his vice president and a radical foreign minster, as his chosen successor after announcing he was heading to Cuba for treatment following the return of cancer. Sounds like he got the bad news...
The Venezuelan president, who has previously undergone two operations, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, said in a televised address from the presidential palace that Mr Maduro, a former bus driver, should succeed "if something were to happen that would incapacitate me."
Mr Chavez said: "There are risks. Who can deny it? In any circumstance, we should guarantee the advance of the Bolivarian Revolution. I hope to give you all good news in the coming days. With the grace of God, we'll come out victorious.
"My firm opinion, as clear as the full moon - irrevocable, absolute, total - is that you elect Nicolas Maduro as president. I ask this of you from my heart. He is one of the young leaders with the greatest ability to continue, if I cannot."
Mr Chavez, 58, who has remained secretive about the details of his cancer, said he had suffered a return of "malignant cells" in the same area where tumours were removed before.