Salvador Navarrete was labelled "a great con man" by Mr Chavez last month after telling a magazine that the cancer which the Venezuelan leader says he has already overcome was "very aggressive" and probably terminal.
Shortly afterwards, the doctor hurriedly left Venezuela with his family for an undisclosed location, amid reports that police had visited his offices in Caracas.
Now a new statement, released via medical colleagues of Dr Navarrete, threatens to undermine further Mr Chavez's insistence that he has been declared free of cancer and will be fit to fight next year's presidential election.
"Whom [sic] requested Dr Navarrete to make the announcement on Chavez's health was the presidential family, his daughters and his mother; they want Hugo Chavez to give up the presidency so he can rest and spend time with his family", said the statement.
It added that "the presidential family is concerned because his kidneys are not working; he is being submitted to dialysis almost daily, he is being bombarded with steroids". » | Robin Yapp, Sao Paulo | Wednesday, November 02, 2011
