Chavez in 'tough' alternative treatment: Maduro

Caracas, Feb 13 (AFP) Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is undergoing "tough and complex" alternative medical treatment in Cuba, his handpicked successor Nicolas Maduro said today. "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. "The treatments are extremely tough and complex." Declining to provide details about the therapy, the vice president insisted that Chavez was facing his medical travails with a "fighting spirit" despite more than two months of absence from the public eye. Maduro said Chavez's brother Adan accompanied him on his trip to Havana, and that he met there with other relatives of the president, as well as his medical team. National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello was due to visit Chavez in Cuba in the coming days, according to Maduro. Chavez, 58, has not been seen or heard from since his last cancer operation on December 11 in Havana, and any news about his health is closely monitored by the Venezuelans. Chavez is said to be still recovering at a hospital in Cuba's capital. The fiery Venezuelan leader was too sick to attend his own inauguration to a third term on January 10, prompting the government to delay the swearing-in indefinitely under an interpretation of the constitution that was heavily criticized by the opposition. Throughout his illness, first detected in June 2011, Chavez has refused to relinquish the powers of the presidency. (AFP) GVS 02141553 NNNN