President Hugo Chavez held an energetic homecoming celebration on Saturday, rallying thousands of supporters from a balcony of the presidential palace after nearly three weeks in Cuba for cancer surgery, AP reported. Chavez turned the event into a campaign rally, vowing to win re-election in the Oct. 7 presidential vote and demanding unity from his followers. "This battle is hard and will be hard, but we'll win it," said Chavez, while standing for more than an hour. The crowd below chanted: "The people are with you!" He reiterated that his latest cancer surgery in Cuba had been successful, and said he feels a "commitment to you all to live." The 57-year-old leader is seeking another six-year term in the October presidential vote. His rival, 39-year-old state governor Henrique Capriles, has criticized Chavez's secretive handling of his cancer, saying that if he were president, his health would "be a matter of public knowledge."
