Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced Friday that he will lead a government delegation to Cuba to visit President Hugo Chavez who was recovering in Havana following his December 11 cancer surgery

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced Friday that he will lead a government delegation to Cuba to visit President Hugo Chavez who was recovering in Havana following his December 11 cancer surgery.
  
In the announcement, Maduro did not specify how long the group would stay in Havana. But he said Electricity Minister Hector Navarro would assume the vice presidency during his absence.
  
Maduro also read a message from Chavez, in which the ailing president said he was "fighting for his health" in Cuba as he recovers from the surgery. "During this Christmas season... I have had to fight for my health again, in order to continue devoting myself completely for the happiness of Venezuela," Chavez said in the message read by Maduro.
  
According to the vice president, Chavez thanked the "commitment and loyalty" of his supporters "in this very difficult time."
  
On Monday, the government said there had been a "slight improvement" in his condition as he recovers from a post-operative respiratory infection.