A former doctor who served Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and claimed the President would not live longer than two years due to his cancer, fled the country after his collegues told him police searched his office.

The doctor, Salvador Navarrete, told a Mexican news magazine last week that Chavez was battling an agressive pelvic cancer known as sarcoma, a cancer of the bone and soft tissues such as fat and muscle.

"The following events obligated me to flee the country with my family abruptly, something that I didn't wish and didn't plan," Navarrete said in the letter published on Talcualdigital.com.

His comments stirred controversy in the nation since Chavez has never disclosed publicy the extent of the disease.

On Thursday, Chavez assured the public that he is free from cancer, according to Venezuelan newspaper El Universal.

"The exams allow me to assure that I am free of the disease," he said, according to the paper.

Navarrete has not worked on Chavez' medical staff in several years but he claims he assessed the President's situation through access to Chavez' family but not directly by examinating him.