PRE HUGO CHEVEZ RETURNS TO VENEZUELA

President Hugo Chavez announced his return to Venezuela from Cuba early Monday, where he had been undergoing cancer treatment."We come back to the country of Venezuela," Chavez posted on his official Twitter account. "Thank God! Thank you dear people! Here we continue the treatment."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro said his boss returned to Caracas at 2:30 a.m. local time Monday. The nation's minister of communications also announced the news.

Venezuelans have seen very little of their leader in recent months and have heard even less. The Twitter post early Monday on the president's account is the first since November 1.

Venezuelans got the first glimpse of their ailing

president on Friday in a series of photos the government released in a televised announcement.

I flanked by his two daughters.

He is smiling, and his face looks a little swollen.

In the weeks since having cancer surgery on December 11, officials have been criticized for giving vague, sometimes contradicting updates on the president's health.

Chavez, who has shown his strength after past surgeries by calling in to speak on state television, uncharacteristically has not been heard from or seen.

Chavez is temporarily having difficulty speaking after doctors inserted a tracheal tube, Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said.

"Two months after a complicated post-surgery period, the patient remains conscious, fully intellectually aware, in thorough communication with his governing team and on top of the fundamental duties of his post," Villegas said.

A respiratory infection that the president suffered has been controlled, but he still has some "insufficiency" in his breathing, Villegas said.

The photos were taken Thursday evening at the Cuban hospital where Chavez is being treated, the minister said.

Before his return, the president's critics said the country was in limbo, without a leader, while his allies maintained that he was running the country from Havana. Chavez's lengthy absence from Venezuela hasn't stopped his government from making some significant changes.

This week, the country devalued its currency, creating fear among some Venezuelans that the move would mean a sharp spike in the cost of imported goods. The decision came straight from Chavez, officials said.

Speaking to the Telesur network, Venezuela's minister of science, technology and innovation, Jorge Arreaza, said Chavez is able to communicate even if he has some difficulty speaking.

"He can communicate," Arreaza said. "He writes, he can be understood. It's not the voice he is known for, but he can communicate."