Venezuela's Chavez fighting severe lung infection

Dec. 10, 2012: In this picture released Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 by Cuba's state newspaper Granma, Cuba's President Raul Castro, right, receives Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez at the Jose Marti International airport in Havana, Cuba. (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is being treated for "respiratory deficiency" after complications from a severe lung infection, his government said Thursday.

The statement pointed to a deepening crisis for the ailing 58-year-old president, who hasn't been seen or heard from since his Dec. 11 operation in Cuba.

"Chavez has faced complications as a consequence of a severe pulmonary infection. This infection has resulted in a respiratory deficiency, which requires ... strict compliance with his medical treatment," Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Thursday night, reading from the statement.

The statement raised the possibility that Chavez might be breathing with the assistance of a machine. But the government did not address that question and didn't give details of the president's treatment.

The government expressed confidence in Chavez's medical team and condemned what it called a "psychological war" in international media surrounding the president's condition. Officials have urged Venezuelans not to heed rumors about Chavez's condition.

In its latest statement, the government didn't point to any particular rumors but state news media are trying to "destabilize" the country and "finish with the Bolivarian Revolution led by Chavez."

Venezuela's opposition has demanded that the government provide more specific information about Chavez's condition.

Chavez has undergone four cancer-related surgeries since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer. He also has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

He was re-elected in October to another six-year term, and two months later announced that the cancer had come back.