Chavez's recovery 'complex and difficult': VP

CARACAS - The recovery of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez will be "complex and difficult" following a fourth round of cancer surgery, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday.

"Certainly, the surgery was complex, difficult and delicate, which indicates to us that the post-surgery process will also be complex and difficult," Maduro said.

On Tuesday, Chavez underwent more than six hours of surgery at the Medical-Surgical Research Center in Havana, Cuba, after doctors detected a recurrence of cancerous cells in his body.

In a national radio and television broadcast, Maduro, who Chavez named as his successor prior to leaving for Cuba, said President Chavez faced a "difficult" recovery from cancer surgery, and that senior officials were in permanent contact with Chavez's medical team in Havana.

Maduro said he will continuously inform Venezuelans of Chavez's recovery process.

Cilia Flores, Venezuela's Attorney General, and Jorge Arreaza, Science and Technology Minister and the president's son-in-law, traveled to Cuba to remain by Chavez's side, said Maduro.

During the broadcast from the government palace in the capital Caracas, Maduro was accompanied by Rafael Ramirez, Energy and Petroleum Minister, and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, who had been in Cuba for the surgery.

First diagnosed with cancer in 2011, Chavez, 58, has not divulged the exact nature and location of the disease, saying only that it is in the pelvic area.