Venezuela's civilian and military leadership met Tuesday after announcing that President Hugo Chavez had taken a turn for the worse, plunging the oil-rich country deeper into uncertainty.

Hours after the somber medical bulletin, Vice President Nicolas Maduro held a meeting with the cabinet, military officers and state governors at the presidential palace to "define strategies regarding various projects for the development of our country," according to state-run television.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is suffering from a severe infection and his breathing has worsened during chemotherapy, putting him in a "very delicate" state, the government said late Monday.

The once omnipresent face of the Latin American left, now breathing with the aid of a tracheal tube, has neither emerged nor spoken in public in almost three months, leaving the oil-rich nation and the wider region on tenterhooks.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is still in charge and mulling political, social and economic policies even as he receives a new round of chemotherapy, his vice president said Saturday.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that the 58-year-old socialist leader, who is convalescing in seclusion at a Caracas military hospital, sent "guidance" to his cabinet as recently as Friday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in "good spirits" but fighting for his life as he undergoes chemotherapy in a Caracas military hospital, the vice president said Friday, revealing new details about the leftist leader's treatment.

Nicolas Maduro, the leftist leader's political heir, lashed out against a wave of rumors about Chavez's health, accusing the Miami-based Venezuelan diaspora of fomenting them to destabilize the nation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is fighting for his life in a Caracas military hospital 10 days after returning from cancer treatment in Cuba, his vice president said Thursday.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro did not provide more details, but the government said last week that Chavez was still suffering from a respiratory infection and that the trajectory was not favorable.

Venezuela's cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez is still suffering from respiratory problems, and the evolution of that condition "has not been favorable," the information minister said Thursday.

The somewhat pessimistic medical report from the minister, Ernesto Villegas, comes after Chavez's surprise return home on Monday, following a fourth cancer surgery and more than two months of convalescence in Cuba.

Supporters of President Hugo Chavez displayed new confidence Saturday after the government released the first post-surgical photos of the ailing Venezuelan leader, in which he appears bed-ridden but smiling in the company of his daughters.

The pictures show the 58-year-old Chavez lying on his back in a Havana hospital and leafing through Thursday's edition of the official Cuban newspaper Granma.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was seen bed-ridden but smiling in photos released Friday that gave a jittery nation a first glimpse of him since his fourth round of cancer surgery in December.

The pictures show Chavez lying on his back in bed in a Havana hospital, with his two eldest daughters at his side and holding Thursday's edition of the official Cuban communist party newspaper Granma.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "tough and complex" alternative medical treatment in Cuba, his handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday.

"Our comandante is undergoing additional treatments," Maduro told state-owned VTV television after returning from a previously unannounced visit to Cuba to check up on the ailing president.

Venezuela said it was devaluing its currency by 32 percent against the dollar on the orders of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez, in part to trim a bloated budget deficit.

The bolivar will go from 4.3 to the dollar to 6.3 at the official exchange rate. The move was announced Friday at a press conference by Planning and Finance Minister Jorge Giordani. He said it will take effect on Wednesday.