Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called for "prayer and action with our soul and mind", for the life of President Hugo Chavez as he experienced the most difficult time after the last surgery in Cuba.

"(We must be) praying for the health and life of the commander (Chavez) as these hours are the most difficult since the operation of December 11," he said, after a meeting of the political and military leadership of the Bolivarian Revolution in Caracas that included 20 ministers and governors.

After evaluating the health status of Chavez on Sunday and Monday, the government has decided to inform the public the " delicate" situation of Chavez and call for cohesion to support the president, Maduro said.

"We will rally around the commander of the working class, we cannot hesitate, it is the working class in the street, the youths, the forces in this country who support the commander Chavez," said Maduro.

On Monday night, Venezuelan Communication and Information Minister Ernesto Villegas reported that President Chavez's health had deteriorated and remained delicate.

Villegas announced in Venezuela's national TV broadcaster VTV that there is a "worsening of respiratory function," caused by clinical immune depression.

The minister said that the president "has a new and severe respiratory infection" and stressed that the general state of President Chavez continues to be "very delicate" as he is undergoing chemotherapy with high impact and other complementary treatments.

The 58-year-old Chavez has been in power for 14 years. He was re-elected to a third six-year term last October, but could not be sworn in as scheduled on Jan. 10 due to his serious health problems.

After seeking medical treatment for 70 days in Cuba, he returned home on Feb. 18. Since then, he has stayed in the military hospital Doctor Carlos Arvelo in Caracas.

However, he has been unable to appear before the public since his return, except in a number of pictures published by the government which were taken in Cuba and showed he was lying in bed in the company of his two daughters.