The long awaited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned home to Venezuela after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba after cancer surgery.
Chavez, 58, announced his return in a series of messages on Monday on his Twitter account, and aides confirmed the news.
They were the first messages to appear on the president's account since November 1.
"We have arrived back in the Venezuelan fatherland. Thanks, my God! Thanks, my beloved people! Here we will continue the treatment," Chavez said via Twitter.
"I'm clinging to Christ and trusting in my doctors and nurses," he said in another tweet.
"Onward toward victory always!! We will live and we will triumph!!"
There had been speculation Chavez was not well enough to travel despite wanting to return to his homeland for continued treatment for the disease he was first diagnosed with in mid-2011.
Upon his return, he was immediately taken to the military hospital in Caracas, where the Venezuelan government had set aside an area in front of the hospital so that people could "be close to Chavez".
Al Jazeera's Andy Gallacher, reporting from Caracas, described jubilant scenes outside the military hospital.
Venezuelan ministers were in jubilant, one singing "He's back, he's back!" live on state TV.
Given that ministers said he wanted to return when he was well enough to travel, Chavez's arrival implied some improvement in his condition, at least enough to handle a flight of several hours.
But aides have emphasised in recent days his state remains "complex".
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