CARACAS — President ­Hugo Chavez suffered bleeding during his surgery for cancer in Cuba that required ‘‘corrective measures’’ to stanch the flow, his government said Thursday.

But in the latest of a series of unusually frank reports about the president’s delicate medical condition, Information ­Minister Ernesto Villegas also said Chavez has been making a ‘‘progressive and favorable’’ ­recovery after the complications from Tuesday’s surgery.

‘‘This recovery process, nevertheless, will require a prudent period of time as a consequence of the complexity of the surgery performed,’’ Villegas added.

The government has begun providing regular updates on the president’s recovery after the six-hour surgery in what appears to be a slight easing of the secrecy that has surrounded Chavez’s medical treatment since he fell ill last year.