The United States said Wednesday it was aware of informal offers of asylum to Syrian President Bashar Assad by countries in the Middle East and elsewhere.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner gave no details, referring reporters to others governments after being asked about speculation that the Syrian president was weighing asylum offers from Latin America.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was back in Cuba on Wednesday for further cancer treatment just weeks after being re-elected to a new six-year term, the state-run Granma newspaper reported.

The newspaper said Chavez arrived at dawn and would be undergoing several sessions of hyperbaric oxygenation, the breathing of pure oxygen in a sealed and pressurized chamber.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he is returning to Cuba Tuesday to continue treatment for cancer, raising new questions about his health just weeks after he won re-election to another six-year term.

Chavez, who had claimed in July that he was cancer free, disclosed his travel plans in a letter to the National Assembly that left unclear whether he had suffered a relapse.

With the world's largest oil reserves and the cheapest gas anywhere, you'd think Venezuela is a driver's paradise. Wrong. New cars are scarce and sellers of used ones -- even clunkers -- make a killing.

The counter-intuitive economics stem from rules imposed in 2003 by populist President Hugo Chavez that make it difficult for businesses to obtain hard currency and thus wildly expensive to import new cars and spare parts.

President Hugo Chavez vowed Tuesday to keep supporting Bashar Assad, calling him Syria's legitimate president and blaming the United States for the war that has raged on for nearly 19 months.

"How can I not support the government of Bashar Assad if it is the legitimate government of Syria?" asked Chavez, who was re-elected Sunday to a third term.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday extended congratulations to his "dear brother" Hugo Chavez on winning re-election as Venezuela's president, the ISNA news agency reported.

"I wholeheartedly congratulate you and the great nation of Venezuela on holding a passionate election and your renewed election as president," Ahmadinejad told Chavez in a message published by the news agency.

Hugo Chavez pledged to become a "better president" and work with the opposition after winning a tough re-election battle that betrayed simmering discontent at his socialist revolution.

The leftist president's victory was a relief to like-minded allies in the region, with Cuban leader Raul Castro hailing his friend's "historic triumph," while the United States urged him to listen to the opposition.

The White House congratulated the Venezuelan people on a peaceful election on Monday, while admitting that the United States has "differences" with re-elected President Hugo Chavez.

"We have our differences with President Chavez," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "But we congratulate the Venezuelan people," he added, on an election process that was "peaceful."

The United States on Monday voiced hope that the Venezuelan opposition's views would not be ignored, after leftist President Hugo Chavez, in power for 14 years, won re-election again.

"We believe that the views of the more than six million people who voted for the opposition should be taken into account going forward," said William Ostick, the State Department's spokesman for the Western Hemisphere.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez shrugged off cancer and a unified opposition on Sunday to triumph yet again at the ballot box and win another six-year mandate to pursue his oil-funded socialist revolution.

His rival, 40-year-old Miranda state governor Henrique Capriles, was gracious in defeat, saying, "I accept and respect the decision of the people," but it was a bitter pill for the opposition and many in the divided country to swallow.