Uncertainty over Chavez's recovery roils Venezuela

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela was mired in uncertainty on Saturday over how long Hugo Chavez would take to recover after a cancer operation, despite assurances by allies the president will be fit to run for re-election next year.

The government has insisted the 56-year-old socialist leader remains fully in charge, and he said he planned to meet several of his ministers in Cuba for talks on Saturday.

The saga over Chavez's illness has convulsed South America's biggest oil exporter, underlining the lack of an obvious successor while stoking fears of a dangerous power vacuum and bitter political infighting.

Since Chavez sombrely told his people and the world late on Thursday that he had undergone surgery in Havana to remove a cancerous tumour, many have questioned whether he will be able to run the nation.

A phone call to Cuban state TV on Friday did little to quell the speculation and his condition remained hotly debated from Venezuela's jungle hinterlands to its Caribbean beaches.

"Nobody expected this illness ... we are very optimistic we are going to come out of this," Chavez said in the call.

He seemed keen to demonstrate he was still running Venezuela during his recuperation, discussing energy and infrastructure projects and summoning the ministers to Havana.

Chavez did not say when he would be back home and one source close to the Venezuelan medical team following his recovery in Cuba said the diagnosis had revealed a cancer that required aggressive treatment that could take several months.

A wing of the Military Hospital in Caracas was being prepared to receive him when he returns, the source said.

No official updates on Chavez's condition have been released except for his own accounts on Thursday and Friday.

Local media have said he could have prostate cancer.

"FULLY IN CHARGE"

Jaua and the country's army chief have gone out of their way to assure anxious Venezuelans that the president of the politically volatile OPEC member remains fully in charge.

But the lack of details about the seriousness or type of cancer he is suffering are keeping observers guessing about his future after 12 years as the charismatic but controversial leader of the nation of 29 million people.

"Chavez will be out (of Venezuela) for the time that is needed for him to recover," Vice President Elias Jaua told the Telesur TV network. "The president is at the head of the country and will continue to be at the head of the country."

Other world leaders have suffered cancer but remained in office, including Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, France's Francois Mitterrand, the Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel and U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

There have been feverish rumors about Chavez' long-term health prospects since he vanished from public view in Cuba after his initial operation there for a pelvic abscess on June 10, followed by the more serious cancer tumour extraction.

Although he talked on Thursday of emerging from an "abyss," questions remained about whether the man who has dominated Venezuelan politics since 1999 and projected his leftist views around the world will be fit to fight the 2012 election.

Jaua attempted to dispel these doubts.

"We have absolute faith and confidence in God ... that Hugo Chavez will be the candidate of the Bolivarian Revolution, of the people and patriots of Venezuela, and that he will carry on being president beyond 2012," the vice president said.

Jaua rejected opposition arguments that the president's absence through illness meant he must delegate his powers to someone else, saying the National Assembly dominated by Chavez loyalists had already approved his extended stay abroad.

Chavez supporters were already planning a march and other celebrations at the weekend to mark the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's independence on Tuesday. These were expected to turn into shows of support for the convalescing president.

A regional economic summit scheduled to coincide with the July 5 anniversary has already been postponed.

Despite Chavez's contentious image as a standard bearer of leftist anti-U.S. policies in Latin America and farther afield, wishes for his speedy recovery have flooded in.

"Courage is not lacking in you, President Chavez, and rest assured that you are not without the solidarity of all your friends," Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said in a note.

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas and Reese Ewing in Sao Paulo)