Argentina’s president has cancer

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) ― Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery on January 4, her spokesman said Tuesday in a statement.

Kirchner, who was sworn in for a second four-year term earlier this month, was found to have cancer “on the right lobe of the thyroid gland” during a routine medical examination on December 22, said spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro.

“The illness has been contained,” Scoccimarro emphasized, adding the cancer had not metastasized. Tests carried out Tuesday showed the cancer had not spread to Kirchner’s lymph nodes, he added.

The 58-year-old Kirchner was expected to spend 72 hours in hospital, and then spend three weeks recovering from the surgery, he said. During that time, her vice president Amado Boudou will carry out her duties.

Kirchner was re-elected Oct. 23 with more than 54 percent of the vote, a single round landslide that buried her nearest competitors and won her back control of Congress.

The win, a year after her husband and predecessor’s sudden death, was powered by a slew of popular social programs and years of strong, virtually uninterrupted economic growth.