CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s vice president said he will travel to Cuba on Friday to visit ailing President Hugo Chavez and his family.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced his trip on television, saying he would also meet with Chavez’s medical team. The government says the Venezuelan leader is fighting a severe respiratory infection a month after he underwent cancer surgery in Havana.

“I’m leaving for Havana to continue that work of visiting the family, meeting with his medical team, visiting our commander president,” Maduro said.

Chavez hasn’t spoken publicly or been seen since before his Dec. 11 operation, his fourth cancer-related surgery since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer.

The government revealed this week that Chavez is receiving treatment for “respiratory deficiency.” Medical experts say that might mean he is breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Maduro was making his second trip to Cuba since Chavez’s surgery. He said he would meet with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who also was visiting Havana, and hoped to meet with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who arrived Friday in the Cuban capital.

Fernandez did not speak to journalists at she arrived at the upscale Hotel Nacional along Havana’s waterfront on Friday morning. Authorities have characterized the Argentine leader’s trip as a private visit and her foreign minister said Thursday that she intended to meet with Chavez.

Arriving at the Havana airport, Humala did not say if had confirmed plans to meet with Chavez.

“Obviously I will ask, I will see, how is President Chavez’s situation,” Humala told reporters, saying he wishes Chavez a “quick recovery.”

Presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Evo Morales of Bolivia have also visited Havana during Chavez’s current stay there.

Maduro was designated by Chavez last month as his chosen successor. Maduro said that while he is in Cuba, Electricity Minister Hector Navarro will remain in charge of affairs as acting vice president. The vice president didn’t say when he would return.

The vice president’s announcement came a day after the government gathered foreign allies and tens of thousands of exuberant supporters to celebrate the start of a new term for Chavez on Thursday, even as he was too ill to return home for a real inauguration.

Despite opposition claims that the constitution demands a Jan. 10 inauguration, the pro-Chavez congress approved delaying the inauguration and the Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed the postponement, saying the president could be sworn in before the court at a later date.

Jailed former defense minister Raul Baduel urged his countrymen, especially the military, to resist what he called a “new constitutional coup” by Chavez’s allies. The former military chief, who is in prison after being convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power, made the remarks in a vaguely worded letter that was released on Friday.

Baduel has insisted he is innocent and dismissed the case against him as a politically motivated reprisal for his opposition to Chavez.

Though he didn’t give details about what action he hoped the military would take, Baduel appeared to echo the argument by opposition politicians that Maduro and other Chavez allies are violating the constitution by remaining in office beyond the formal swearing-in date.

The Supreme Court has dismissed that argument, saying the date in the constitution isn’t binding if an inauguration is performed before the court rather than the congress, where presidents usually take the oath of office.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (Associated Press)