Hugo Chavez respiratory infection causing 'severe' problems This campaign aims ultimately to destabilise the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ignore the popular will expressed in the presidential elections last October 7, and end the Bolivarian Revolution led by Chávez. It described the "ironclad unity" of the government in the face of claims Chavez's health is failing. Yesterday, the government defended its handling of the situation after calls from the opposition to tell the public the truth about the president's condition. Vice president Nicolas Maduro, who returned to Caracas from Havana, said at least 26 updates had been issued in the 22 days since Chavez's operation. But the government faces increasing pressure to reveal the extent of his illness as the date of Chavez's swearing in approaches. If the president cannot return to be inaugurated in less than a week and his absence is deemed permanent, a new election will be called within 30 days. Supporters have argued the inauguration should be delayed to allow Chavez the chance to recover, a move criticised as unconstitutional. According to Spanish newspaper ABC, Chavez has shown signs of improving with doctors able to bring him out of an induced coma. But it reported unnamed hospital sources claiming the 58-year-old was now suffering from abdominal swelling. Dr Michael Pishvaian, a cancer specialist at Georgetown University in Washington, said Chavez's latest breathing difficulties could be an "ominous" sign with the most serious lung infections leading to "life-threatening respiratory complications." Dr. Alejandro Rios-Ramirez, a pulmonary specialist in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, said: "It appears he has a very severe pneumonia that he suffered after a respiratory failure. It does imply the gravity of his pulmonary infection that led to a respiratory failure. It doesn't mean yet that he is breathing with a machine.