Chavez made the remark in a telephone call carried live on state television on Friday during a speech by his vice president, Elias Jaua.

He said the first phase of treatment has gone well and he has also gained weight. He said next will come a “second cycle” of chemotherapy. It’s not clear how soon that could begin.

Chavez’s call was the first time he has addressed the nation on television since leaving for Cuba last Saturday to begin chemotherapy. His only remarks until Friday had come in dozens of messages posted on his Twitter account.

The 56-year-old Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor. He hasn’t said what type of cancer he has been diagnosed with or specified where exactly it was located, saying only that it was in his pelvic region. He says chemotherapy is necessary to ensure cancer cells don’t reappear.

“I’ve completed the first cycle of chemotherapy treatment,” Chavez said. “This cycle finished, I should tell you, successfully.”

Chavez likened it to a “bombardment.”

“It’s the bomb against the illness,” he said.

Chavez said he feels a “will to live that has sprung up inside me like a volcano.”

“I’m in the best mood possible,” he said.

Chavez said he was speaking from a meeting in Cuba and mentioned that his foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, was also there.

“Time is short, and it’s time for a walk soon,” Chavez said. He praised the work of his aides and said they were talking about Venezuela’s oil industry, among other issues.

In his typical fashion, Chavez broke into song during his call and chatted with some of those attending the televised gathering where the vice president spoke.

Given the limited information Chavez has provided about his condition and treatment, medical experts have suggested he could be suffering from anything ranging from rectal cancer to prostate cancer to a soft-tissue cancer such as sarcoma.

“Most cancers, and this is pretty much true across the board, if they are going to give chemotherapy after surgery in the hopes of trying to prevent any recurrence of the cancer, it tends to be four to six months of chemotherapy,” said Dr. Michael Pishvaian, a cancer specialist at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center who was not involved in the Venezuelan leader’s treatment.

“The exact details completely depend upon the exact regimen that’s used,” Pishvaian said.

Some chemotherapy regimes can be well-tolerated, but the response also depends on the patient.

The leftist president, who has been in power since 1999, has indicated he intends to run for re-election in late 2012.

If Chavez tolerates the chemotherapy well and there is no recurrence of the cancer, Pishvaian said: “I think he would probably be strong enough for most of 2012.”

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Associated Press writer Ian James contributed to this report.