Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been battling cancer for months, is in a "very delicate" condition, with breathing difficulties and a severe respiratory infection, a government statement says.
The statement, read out Monday by Minister of Communications Ernesto Villegas, spells out the 58-year-old socialist leader's decline since his December surgery in Cuba for an unspecified cancer in the pelvic area:
"From today, there has been deterioration in his respiratory performance, related to the immunodeficiency of his current clinical condition. At present he is suffering from a new and serious respiratory infection.
"The president has been receiving intense chemotherapy, as well as other complementary treatments, with the dosage according to the development of his clinical state.
"His general state of health continues to be very delicate.
"The president is taking refuge in Christ and in life, conscious of the difficulties that he is facing and strictly following the program designed by his medical team."