Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez smiles in between his daughters, Rosa Virginia (R) and Maria while recovering from cancer surgery in Havana in this photograph released by the Ministry of Information on February 15, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

CARACAS - Venezuelan government published Friday the first pictures of ailing President Hugo Chavez since his surgery of cancer in Cuba two months ago, showing him lying in bed alongside his two daughters.  

The minister of science and technology of Venezuela, Jorge Arreaza, said the photos were taken in Havana on Thursday when Chavez was reading the Cuban newspaper of Gramma, during the visit of his two elder daughters.

The 58-year-old Chavez had not been seen in public since the surgery on December 11, his fourth cancer operation in less than one year and half.