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Venezuelan president issues theatrical reply to report suggesting he had been rushed to hospital with kidney failure The call came at about 11am. Journalists should come to the presidential palace in Caracas immediately. Hugo Chávez had something to say. When reporters arrived at the Miraflores palace on Thursday they found the Venezuelan president – who had supposedly been rushed to hospital with kidney failure just 48 hours earlier – wearing a bright red tracksuit and clutching a baseball. “I’m fine,” said a distinctly jovial Chávez. “Those who don’t love me and wish me ill, well, bad luck.” It was a typically theatrical riposte to yet another story speculating about his health: a report on Wednesday by the Miami-based El Nuevo Herald newspaper claiming that 57-year-old Chávez had been rushed to hospital with kidney failure the previous day. “I’ve had presidents calling,” Chávez complained of the fallout from the story, which he said had triggered concerned phone calls from other heads of state. “It’s morbid and inhumane. We must stop the speculation. I ask the Venezuelan people to ignore these rumours. If anything happened, I’d be the first person to tell you about any difficulty. Nothing’s happened beyond what’s normal in the treatment process.” Chávez’s hastily arranged appearance before the domestic and international press, came one day after the El Nuevo Herald report about the supposed severity of his illness . The paper had quoted an unidentified source as saying: “He [Chávez] was in a pretty bad overall state.” The source who had supposedly seen Chávez being admitted to a military hospital, went on to tell the paper: “When he arrived, he was pretty serious and that is why he was brought in for emergency care.” Chávez dismissed the reports. “To answer your question [about my health], here I am. I am my answer,” he told the assembled press pack. Peppering his two-hour appearance with sporting metaphors and clutching a baseball for much of the interview, he told reporters: “I had cancer. It was in a ball, contained.” Speculation about Chávez’s health reached fever pitch in June, after he disappeared from the public eye and spent nearly one month out of the country, ruling in absentia, partly from a Cuban hospital bed. Conspiracy theories and speculation that he had fallen into a coma, had a heart-attack or was suffering from lung problems spread rapidly on the internet. Then, in early July, Chávez finally admitted what many had suspected – he was suffering from cancer. Doctors had found “a strange formation in the pelvic region” he said during 15-minute address on television. “I had neglected my health and I was reluctant to have medical checkups. It was a fundamental mistake for a revolutionary.” Since then, Chávez has undergone chemotherapy and shaved his head. He has also vowed to put up a fight in the run-up to the 2012 presidential elections. But he has yet to disclose exactly what kind of cancer he is fighting. On Thursday he was scarcely more revealing. After being asked for details of his illness, he simply responded: “What is it you want? Do you want me to get out my tumour, to show you what kind of cancer it is? Well, I won’t. Why do you want to know?” he inquired. “Would you ask your friend that?” Hugo Chávez Venezuela Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk