Chavez recovery slow but sure

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is recovering satisfactorily after cancer surgery in Cuba and has spoken with relatives, his government has said.

“His recuperation has been slow but progressive,” information minister Ernesto Villegas said, reading a government statement.

The 58-year-old president underwent his fourth cancer-related operation in Havana on Tuesday after tests found the illness had come back despite previous operations, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

The Venezuelan government has said Mr Chavez suffered complications during a complex six-hour operation.

“The bleeding that occurred during the operation was attended to in an opportune manner and the patient has responded in a favourable manner,” the government said. “Chavez has communicated with his close relatives.”

Vice president Nicolas Maduro has said that Mr Chavez’s children are with him in Havana as well as his science and technology minister Jorge Arreaza.

The government said that through Mr Arreaza, the president “has sent a greeting to the entire Venezuelan nation”.

Bolivian president Evo Morales is travelling to Havana to visit Mr Chavez, said Amanda Davila, Bolivia’s communication minister.

Speaking at a news conference in La Paz, Ms Davila said that after seeing Mr Chavez, the Bolivian leader would travel to Venezuela for an event later today marking the creation of the leftist ALBA bloc, to which both countries belong.