Duarte Has Fatal Liver Cancer

Doctors removed a cancerous tumor from Jose Napoleon Duarte’s stomach but not his liver today, and his doctor said the Salvadoran president might die in months.

The liver tumor “will keep growing and that will be the cause of his death,” Dr. Benjamin Interiano said. Interiano said doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center removed all of the tumor from Duarte’s stomach along with two-thirds of the stomach. He said the cancer had to be left in the president’s liver because “it is impossible to remove it.” Interiano said he believes that Duarte will be able to return to El Salvador in two or three weeks and should be able to go back to work for a time as president.