Hugo Chavez back in Caracas

President Hugo Chavez shocked and delighted Venezuelans by returning home Monday, albeit to an uncertain future, ending a more more than two-month absence in Cuba for cancer surgery and treatment.

Even as Chavez supporters took to the streets in noisy celebration, and foreign dignitaries congratulated Chavez and urged him to rest, the next step for the oil-rich country remained unclear.

It was not immediately known when, if at all, Chavez would be sworn in by the Supreme Court to begin the new term he won in elections late last year.

A Supreme Court court source said the tribunal is ready, and waiting for the go-ahead from Chavez and his medical team. The ceremony does not have to be public, the source said, suggesting it could be done with Chavez lying on his back in a hospital bed.

Indeed, Chavez may be home but as soon as he arrived he was hospitalized again for more treatment. He has undergone surgery four times since mid 2011.

Chavez announced his return on Twitter — he has nearly four million followers — and his arrival at Caracas airport was not broadcast on TV. That is unusual in this country he so thoroughly dominates both politically and personally.

“We have arrived again in our Venezuelan homeland,” Chavez wrote. “Thank you, God. Thank you, my beloved people. We will continue my treatment here.”

Chanting and banner-waving Chavez supporters gathered outside the hospital where Chavez was admitted.

Venezuelans had neither seen nor heard from him since he left for Cuba December 10 for a fourth round of cancer surgery, although on Friday photos of a bedridden but smiling Chavez were shown on Venezuelan TV. The government said it was hard for him to speak because has been fitted with a tracheal tube, due to a nagging post-operative respiratory infection. Chavez was first diagnosed with cancer in mid 2011.