Balding Hugo Chavez to Undergo Second Round of Chemo

The president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez said he will undergo another round of chemotherapy shortly and that he soon expects to become bald due to his cancer treatments.

Chavez, whose week-long absence in Cuba prompted calls by the opposition for his resignation, appeared on Caracas TV with a close-shaved head.

It is not certain if Chavez will start the next phase of treatments in Venezuela or in Cuba, where he received the first round of chemotherapy. On June 20, he had surgery in Cuba which removed a cancerous tumor from his pelvic area.

"I will inform the country, of course, when the second phase of chemotherapy is going to begin, where we're going to have it," he told a TV audience.

He explained that most of treatment has so far been done in Cuba since "that's where the detection occurred and everything is there, all the equipment, the medical team and very specialized facilities."

But he added that his doctors are also "evaluating the possibility of doing another session here [in Venezuela]."

Chavez has been in power since 1999 and vows he will run for re-election late next year.