Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez catches a flower thrown by supporters during his caravan from Miraflores presidential palace to the airport in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday Feb. 24, 2012. Chavez bid an emotional goodbye to soldiers and supporters and waved to crowded streets in Caracas on his way to Cuba for urgent surgery to remove a tumor he says is probably malignant. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)