Hugo Chavez still suffers breathing problems

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez is still suffering breathing problems after returning from Cuba where he was treated for cancer, officials say.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Hugo Chavez was continuing to receive treatment at a military hospital in Caracas.

It was the first official communiqué on the president’s health since he returned to Venezuela on Monday.

Hugo Chavez went to Havana for surgery on December 11.

It was his fourth operation in an 18-month period for cancer, which was first diagnosed in mid-2011.

Hugo Chavez is said to have suffered a severe respiratory infection following the latest surgery.

“The breathing insufficiency that emerged post-operation persists, and the tendency has not been favorable, so it is still being treated,” Ernesto Villegas said in a televised statement.

President Hugo Chavez, in office for 14 years, was re-elected for another six-year term in October 2012, but his swearing-in was delayed because of his illness.

Doubts remain about whether his health will allow him to return to active politics.