Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez touches his head as he speaks to the media during the welcoming ceremony of Bolivia's President Evo Morales at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas Sept 17, 2011. Venezuela's cancer-stricken leader Hugo Chavez said he will return to Cuba on Saturday for a fourth and probably last round of chemotherapy, vowing to be recovered and fit for a tough re-election campaign next year. [Photo/Agencies]

CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home on Thursday saying a fourth and final session of chemotherapy in Cuba had been successful.

Wearing a blue and white tracksuit, the 57-year-old leader chatted with government officials and then gave a speech after his plane landed at Caracas's Maiquetia International Airport.

"The four sessions of chemotherapy have been highly successful," he said in comments carried live on state TV.

"Successful results, satisfactory results, all the vital signals ... very positive. We can say, thanks to these results, that we have finished the chemotherapy cycle."

Before traveling to Cuba he said his fourth round of chemotherapy would probably be his last.

The former soldier has led South America's biggest oil exporter since 1999 and wants to stay in office until at least 2025 to consolidate his self-styled leftist "revolution."

Chavez plans to run for another six-year term in the October, 2012, election. In June he underwent surgery in Cuba to remove a baseball-sized tumor, throwing added uncertainty into Venezuela's upcoming political season.