According to Venezuela’s government President Hugo Chavez's respiratory problems have gotten critical and that the ailing leader is in "very delicate" condition.

Moreover, late Monday Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas said in a statement which read on national television that the cancer-stricken socialist leader has a “severe infection”.

In fact, the 58-year-old Mr. Chavez first revealed an unspecified cancer in the pelvic region in June 2011, and reported undergoing radiation treatment and chemotherapy after earlier operations.

Mr. Chavez underwent cancer surgery in Cuba on December 11 and flew back to Caracas on February 18.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)