29645: (news) Chamberlain: President-Cancer (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec 10 (AP) -- President Rene Preval, who was diagnosed
with prostate cancer five years ago, said Sunday the disease may have come
back and that he would soon leave the country for treatment and more tests.
   Speaking to reporters after returning from a four-day trip to Cuba for
medical exams, a fit-looking Preval said blood tests in Havana showed
possible signs of cancer.
   Preval said the tests were inconclusive and that he would have to return
to Cuba on Dec. 26 for more tests and unspecified treatment. He did not say
how long he would be out of the country.
   "They (doctors) are unable to say right now at what stage this is,"
Preval said after arriving at Haiti's international airport. "I have to go
back for more tests. If it continues to grow, that will mean the cancer
came back."
   "The seriousness of it is not known," Preval added, saying he felt
"physically and mentally well."
   Preval, 63, was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001, the last
year of his first presidential term, and had surgery in Cuba to treat it.
   He returned unexpectedly to Havana on Wednesday for what his office
described as "medical reasons," setting off rumors in Haiti's capital that
he might be gravely ill.
   "If you are sick, you should say that you are sick, and I told you at
what stage my health is. This is what the doctor told me," Preval said at
the airport Sunday, flanked by his prime minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis,
and several Cabinet members.
   Preval's health adds to the uncertainty already facing his young
coalition government, which has struggled to stabilize the divided and
impoverished Caribbean nation nearly three years after a bloody rebellion
toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Haiti experienced relative calm after Preval's February election
victory. Since the new government took power in May, however, dozens of
foreigners and Haitians have been kidnapped and gang fighting has forced
hundreds to flee their homes in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
   An 8,800-strong force of U.N. troops and international police provides
the only real security in a country plagued with well-armed gangs. U.N.
officials have said the recent crime may be an attempt to destabilize the
country and pressure Preval into allowing Aristide to return.
   Preval has said he does not believe the violence is politically
motivated.
   A legislator from the opposition FUSION party, Frantz Robert Monde, said
Saturday that Preval appeared to be seriously ill and that Alexis may have
to go before Parliament to give details on the president's health.
   Speaking to private radio broadcaster Caribe FM, Monde said that could
help legislators decide whether Preval should temporarily transfer powers
to an executive council made up by Cabinet members and led by the prime
minister, as outlined in Haiti's constitution.
   Preval's office made no immediate comment on the remarks.