Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, dies of cancer
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Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dies of cancer
Posted: 06 March 2013 0603 hrsCARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lost his battle with cancer on Tuesday, his death silencing the leading voice of the Latin American left and plunging his oil-rich nation into an uncertain future.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who struggled to stifle tears as he announced Chavez's passing, said the government had deployed the armed forces and police "to accompany and protect our people and guarantee the peace."
Chavez had named Maduro as his heir, but the Venezuelan opposition is sure to press for fresh elections and tensions have been mounting over government allegations that its domestic rivals are in league with its foreign foes.
Shortly before Chavez's death was announced, senior officials had accused Venezuela's enemies of somehow giving the 58-year-old leftist the cancer that eventually killed him, and two US military attaches were expelled.
Chavez was showered with tributes by Latin American leaders, not just his leftist allies but also world figures like Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, who hailed him as a "great Latin American" and "a friend of the Brazilian people."
US President Barack Obama pledged the United States to support the "Venezuelan people" and describing Chavez's passing as a "challenging time."
"As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law, and respect for human rights," Obama said in a short written statement.
He nevertheless expressed hope that US-Venezuelan relations would improve.
Under the constitution, elections must be held within 30 days and National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello must take over as caretaker, but Chavez had urged Venezuelans to back Maduro if he was unable to continue.
Die-hard Chavista partisans gathered in Caracas' Plaza Bolivar -- named after the independence hero whose legacy Chavez co-opted for his Bolivarian Revolution -- weeping, waving portraits and chanting his name.
One of Chavez's daughters, 32-year-old Maria Gabriela, wrote on Twitter: "I'm lost for words. Eternally, THANK YOU! Strength! We must follow his example. We must continue building the FATHERLAND! Farewell my daddy!"
Soldiers brought the Venezuelan flag down to half-staff at the Caracas military hospital, where senior figures in Chavez's 14-year-old administration gathered before the cameras of state television to break the news.
"We have received the toughest and tragic information that... comandante President Hugo Chavez died today at 4:25 pm," Maduro said.
"Long live Chavez!" the officials shouted at the end of his announcement.
Defence Minister Diego Molero, surrounded by top military officers, said the armed forces would defend the constitution and respect Chavez's wishes.
Chavez had checked into the hospital on February 18 for a course of chemotherapy after spending two months in Cuba, where in December he had undergone his fourth round of cancer surgery since June 2011.
The once ubiquitous symbol of Latin America's "anti-imperialist" left disappeared from public view after he was flown to Cuba on December 10, an unprecedented absence from the public eye that fuelled all manner of rumours.
The government sent mixed signals about the president's health for weeks, warning one day that he was battling for his life, yet insisting as recently as last weekend that he was still in charge and giving orders.
The opposition repeatedly accused the government of lying about the president's condition.
A new election could offer another shot at the presidency to Henrique Capriles, the opposition leader who lost to Chavez in October. He took to Twitter to call for unity.
"My solidarity is with the entire family and followers of President Hugo Chavez, we call for Venezuelan unity at this moment," Capriles wrote.
Chavez will be mourned by many of the country's poor, who revered the self-styled revolutionary for using the country's oil riches to fund popular housing, health, food and education programs.
Like-minded Latin American leaders like Cuba's Raul Castro, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales lost a close friend who used his diplomatic muscle and cheap oil to shore up their rule.
Chavez died five months after winning an October election, overcoming public frustration over a rising murder rate, regular blackouts and soaring inflation.
The opposition had accused Chavez of misusing public funds for his campaign and dominating the airwaves while forcing government workers to attend rallies through intimidation.
He missed his swearing-in for a new six-year term on January 10, but the Supreme Court approved an indefinite delay.
First elected in 1998, Chavez had since worked to consolidate his power and make his revolution "irreversible."
But his policies drove a wedge into Venezuelan society, alienating the wealthy with expropriations while wooing the poor with social handouts.
- AFP/xqhttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1258111/1/.html
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sad.
Champion of the poor and oppressed parted so soon.
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don't know if he had good doctors to take care of him. taxpayers' money. he should have resigned and come to singapore to be our pm. then he will be assured good medical care.
our govt - that one has the cancer cured. taxpayers' money. recovered already but still doing "good" at the expense of the citizens. tsk tsk tsk!
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World Leaders Pay Their Final Respects at Chavez's Funeral
The Life and Legacy of Hugo Chavez
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=832&Itemid=74&jumival=983
Chavez
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/03/chavez/
On the Legacy of Hugo Chávez
Tariq Ali: Hugo Chávez and me
Hugo Chavez's audacious challenge to Western power
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/03/hugo-chavezs-audacious-challenge-western-power
After Chavez: there are many flavours to the left in Latin America
To speak of 'the left' in Latin America, post-Chávez, makes no sense. It displays the same complexity and nuances as the continent itself, says celebrated Colombian writer Héctor Abad
Sunday 10 March 2013
By virtue of being the most diverse and hybrid area on the planet, Latin America is a kind of potpourri that is difficult to understand due to the number of ingredients it contains. Are we the poor suburbs of the west, as some see it, or are we by now, after two centuries of independence, something new and different?
The old white elite, with something of an inferiority complex, used to aspire to be Spanish, English, French or, at worst, the United States: they went to bullfights, played golf, drank French wine and did their shopping in Miami. What we really are is a complex jumble of things, not a homogenous continent that can be summed up in sensationalist slogans that make little sense such as "Homeland or death" or "Ever onward until victory."
The Latin American left has itself many different ingredients. All of these lefts (and a few centres and rights) were at Hugo Chávez's funeral, some with genuine tears in their eyes, some concerned with making gestures for their domestic gallery, or to ensure the free oil keeps on coming, or perhaps with the secret satisfaction of seeing the corpse of an old enemy go by...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/10/hugo-chavez-hector-abad-latin-america-left