Venezuela's Chavez shown walking with Cuba's Castro

CARACAS: Venezuela and Cuba released new photographs and video footage of President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday in an effort to stop speculation the socialist leader was seriously ill after undergoing surgery in Havana.

The disappearance of the normally garrulous and TV-friendly 56-year-old from public view since the June 10 operation has convulsed the volatile and politically polarized South American OPEC member nation of 29 million people.

"Let these images serve to bring peace to the people of Venezuela regarding the health of President Chavez," Venezuelan Communications Minister Andres Izarra said on state TV.

"To those of you who are speculating over the president's health, there he is fine, recovering well."

The new images do not disprove the most extreme rumors -- that Chavez has prostate cancer -- but they give substance to the government's insistence that he is simply recovering from a painful operation to remove an abscess from his pelvis.

In the images, Chavez appeared in better condition -- albeit still thinner than usual -- than in the one set of pictures released shortly after the procedure.

Some analysts think Chavez has deliberately let the furor build over the last two weeks so he can return triumphant to the acclaim of his supporters in a political deus ex machina.

In the brief video footage and photos, he was seen sitting in a chair, apparently having an animated conversation with his friend and mentor Fidel Castro.

He was also seen walking outside in an open area with the former Cuban leader. Both men were wearing tracksuits and at one point they were seen together pouring over articles in Tuesday's edition of Cuba's Communist Party newspaper Granma.

The guessing game over Chavez's health had taken new twists, with rumors ranging from a possible takeover push by his brother to a potential return by the end of this week.

Utterly dominant on the Venezuelan political stage since 1999, Chavez has put in place sweeping socialist reforms including the nationalization of large swathes of the economy in the continent's biggest oil exporter.

He has said he will stand for re-election next year. But some had been asking if he would make it to the vote.

Beyond referring to the abscess, his government has given no more medical details of the operation nor a clear timetable for Chavez's homecoming.

"This way of handling information is typical of totalitarian regimes," opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told Reuters.

Chavez allies say speculation is cynical and unfounded.

"We affirm the right of President Chavez to undergo his recovery and treatment in the established time," Vice President Elias Jaua said after the pictures were released.

"President Chavez has not stopped working, exercising his constitutional authority he just called us in a ministerial meeting," Jaua said.

Should the president be incapacitated, under the constitution Jaua would in theory take over for the rest of his six-year period, ending in January 2013.

Venezuelan journalist Nelson Bocaranda reported on Tuesday in the opposition-leaning El Universal newspaper that Chavez had lost 22 pounds (10 kg) and was taking only liquids at Havana's Cimeq hospital during treatment for prostate cancer.

Local media quoted army sources saying Chavez would be back in time for a military ceremony on Friday.

A deadline of sorts is looming on July 5 when Chavez would love to be home for a regional summit and the 200th anniversary of Venezuela's independence. Some media reports say the coffee-swilling and baseball-loving president is arguing about those plans with his doctors in Havana.

One new rumor was that Chavez's older brother Adan, a state governor and ideological mentor to the president, was preparing to try to take the reins should the seat of power be vacated.

Outraging the opposition, Adan Chavez was widely quoted over the weekend as citing a phrase by Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara that "armed struggle" was a legitimate means of winning power if elections failed

Bond traders had viewed the possibility of a major health problem for Chavez positively, assuming it would lead to a transition of power to a more market-friendly government.

Some analysts, however, say that could be wishful thinking given that a Chavez demise could usher in a period of chaos for Venezuela, as his allies and the opposition jostle for power.

Copyright Reuters, 2011