Venezuela has released photos of sick president Hugo Chavez, giving a jittery nation a first glimpse of him since his fourth round of cancer surgery in December.

The pictures show Mr Chavez lying on his back in bed in a Cuban hospital, with his two eldest daughters at his side.He is holding Thursday's edition of the official Cuban communist party newspaper Granma.The four images broke a virtual news blackout for Venezuelans living in a state of limbo without their leader.Until now they had not seen a single photo of him, nor heard his voice, with terse and sketchy government updates about Mr Chavez's health feeding conspiracy theories that he was dead. Mr Chavez's son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, who is also science minister, showed the printed photos of the leader on television.