CRISTINA FERNÁNDEZ DE KIRCHNER, Argentina's president, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the government announced on December 27th. The disease was detected in a routine checkup five days earlier. It has not metastasised or spread to her lymph nodes, giving her an encouraging prognosis. She will undergo surgery in Argentina on January 4th and then take 20 days of medical leave. During that period Amado Boudou, her former economy minister, who was elected vice-president when she won a second term in October, will serve as acting president.

Ms Fernández is the latest of a series of South American presidents to fight cancer. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez is currently recovering from treatment for cancer in an undisclosed location, for which he was operated on in Cuba. Brazil's current president, Dilma Rousseff, was successfully treated for the disease in 2009, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, her predecessor fake oakleys ebay, is now undergoing treatment. Fernando Lugo, the president of Paraguay, is also a cancer survivor. Ms Fernández's husband and predecessor as president, Néstor Kirchner, died of a heart attack in October 2010.

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