Venezuela’s Chavez ‘conscious’ says VP Maduro

VENEZUELA’S President Hugo Chavez is conscious but in a “delicate and complex situation” after a cancer operation in Cuba, his deputy says.Vice-President Nicolas Maduro said he had seen the president twice in the past two days.The 58-year-old president has been in power since 1999 and was elected for a fourth term in office in October.He is due to be sworn in for a new term on 10 January, but it is unclear if he will be able to attend ceremony.But Mr Maduro angrily denounced speculation the presidents health was failing.Earlier, Venezuelan cabinet ministers prayed for Mr Chavez’s recovery during a Mass at the presidential palace in Caracas.Official New Year celebrations were called off after Mr Maduro announced the president had suffered new complications.Speaking in Havana, Mr Maduro said he had visited Mr Chavez in hospital twice since arriving on Saturday.“We have faith in God and in the doctors that Hugo Chavez will continue to make progress and sooner or later will emerge from this complex and delicate post-operative state he is in,” he told the Latin American satellite network Telesur.Agencies