Chavez 'stable' following surgery

Doctors successfully extracted a tumor from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's pelvic region and he was stable and recovering in Cuba on Tuesday with family at his side, his vice-president announced.

"President Chavez is in good physical condition," Vice-President Elias Jaua told the main chamber of the National Assembly, prompting a standing ovation and cries of "Onward, comandante!"

"A total extraction of the diagnosed pelvic lesion was performed, removing also the tissue surrounding the lesion," Jaua said, reading a statement from the office of the presidency. "There were no complications related to the local organs."

Jaua did not say when Chavez had the surgery, but said the leader was stable and recovering adequately. The Venezuelan president had said the growth was likely cancerous, but there was no immediate word on whether it was malignant.

The precise nature of Chavez's cancer has not been divulged.

Sebastian Quintero, an oncologist in neighboring Colombia, said the announcement doesn't add anything to what little is publicly known about Chavez's cancer.

"They have not said anything different from what was already known: that he has a tumor in the area of the pelvis," Quintero said. "The pelvis is a large cavity with several organs inside, including the prostate, part of the bladder, part of the colon, so it's difficult to determine in what part the tumor is based."

"We're left the same as before."

Chavez, 57, announced last week that doctors in Cuba had found a new growth about 2 centimeters in diameter in the same area where a baseball-size cancerous tumor was removed last summer.

He traveled to Cuba on Friday and said he would undergo tests over the weekend and have the operation early this week.

"I was worried because he's president of the country," said 37-year-old bookseller Cristina Gonzalez, adding that in recent days Chavez's health has been the talk of customers at her streetside stand in central Caracas. "He has done much for the country. I hope he recovers."