Chavez health very delicate: Minister

The Venezuelan president’s health has remained “very delicate” as he was suffering from a “new and severe” infection, the information minister says.

Ernesto Villegas said in a statement late Monday that there was a “worsening of respiratory function” in Chavez’s health.

The minister stated the leader was undergoing “intensive chemotherapy, as well as complementary treatments” and his “condition continues to be very delicate.”

“Comandante Chavez continues to cling to Christ and life, conscious of the difficulties that he is facing and strictly following the program designed by the medical team,” he added.

On Friday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that Chavez was in “good spirit,” rejected rumors about the President’s health and accused Venezuelan diaspora of trying to destabilize the South American country.

On February 15, the Venezuelan government released first post-surgical photos of Chavez in the company of his daughters.

On February 18, Chavez returned to Caracas after more than two months of treatment in Cuba and his supporters held street celebrations to welcome him home.

The Venezuelan president traveled to Havana on December 10, 2012, for a fourth operation after his cancer reappeared. Chavez has not appeared in public since his December operation, which resulted in post-surgery complications.

In late March 2012, Chavez began radiation treatment in Cuba after an operation in February 2012 that removed a second cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. Chavez’s first tumor, which was baseball-sized, was removed in June 2011, and then he received chemotherapy.

Chavez was reelected to a new six-year term on October 7, 2012.