Caracas.- Hugo Chávez says that the United States may have found a way to cause his cancer and that of other Latin American leaders.

The Venezuelan president, who had surgery in June to remove a tumor, speculated in a nationally televised speech about the possibility that America has developed “the technology” to induce cancer, Chávez said it was “very, very, very strange” that so many left-wing Latin American leaders have been diagnosed with cancer, including Chávez, Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now … I don’t know. I’m just reflecting,” Chávez said. “But this is very, very, very strange … it’s a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities.”

Chávez warned his fellow leaders, including his ally Bolivian President Evo Morales, that they should look out.

“We’ll have to take good care of Evo. Take care Evo!” Chávez said, according to Reuters.

Fidel Castro, Chávez said, had first alerted him to the alleged cancer plot.

“Fidel always told me, ‘Chavez take care. These people have developed technology. You are very careless. Take care what you eat, what they give you to eat … a little needle and they inject you with I don’t know what,’” Chávez said.