Hugo Chavez is dead
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Young_Chitlin
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http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/05/world/americas/venezuela-chavez-main/index.html?hpt=hp_t1Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with cancer, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said.
Flanked by Cabinet ministers, Maduro teared up as he announced the news in a national broadcast.
"We must unite now more than ever," he said, calling on Venezuelans to remain peaceful and respectful.
In the coming hours, Maduro said, plans for Chavez's funeral would be announced.
Maduro said Chavez died Tuesday at 4:25 p.m. (3:55 p.m. ET). He did not specify when elections would be held, or who would run the country in the meantime.
"Our people can count on having a government of men and women committed to protecting them," Maduro said.
The announcement came hours after Maduro met with the country's top political and military leaders about Chavez's worsening health condition and suggested someone may have deliberately infected Chavez with cancer.
Venezuela's defense minister echoed Maduro's calls for unity and peace.
Adm. Diego Molero said Venezuela's military is in a "process of deploying ... to ensure the safety of all Venezuelans" and to support the country's constitution in the wake of Chavez's death.
Molero pledged support to Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, two top officials who were close allies of the Venezuelan president.
Chavez first announced his cancer diagnosis in June 2011, but the government never revealed details about his prognosis or specified what kind of cancer he had.
He died nearly three months after his last public appearance.
The president was known for his frequent television broadcasts and lengthy speeches.
Shortly before his last trip to Cuba for cancer surgery in December, Chavez tapped Maduro as the man he wanted to replace him.
"He is one of the young leaders with the greatest ability to continue, if I cannot," Chavez said.
Maduro made no mention of running for election in his public comments Tuesday, but he is widely expected to be the United Socialist Party of Venezuela's candidate for the job.
After the announcement of Chavez's death, state-run VTV showed images of people in the streets of Caracas crying and carrying posters with the late president's picture.
Word of Chavez's death drew swift expressions of sorrow and solidarity from regional allies.
"The national government expresses its solidarity in light of this irreparable loss that puts the Venezuelan people and all the region in mourning and at the same time sends its heartfelt condolences to the family of the late champion of Latin America," Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Bolivian President Evo Morales' voice cracked as he spoke to reporters, describing Chavez as someone "who gave all his life for the liberation of the Venezuelan people ... of all the anti-imperialists and anti-capitalists of the world."
But longtime critics of the controversial president offered a different take.
"Hugo Chavez was a destabilizing force in Latin America, and an obstacle to progress in the region," said U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "I hope his death provides an opportunity for a new chapter in U.S.-Venezuelan relations."
Venezuela-U.S. relations surge into spotlight
Just hours before the announcement of Chavez's death, relations between the two countries appeared to be souring, as Venezuelan officials said they were expelling two U.S. Embassy officials and accused them of plotting to destabilize the country.
The U.S. officials, both air attaches at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, are accused of having meetings with members of the Venezuelan military and encouraging them to pursue "destabilizing projects," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said.
"We will not allow any foreign interference in our country," Jaua said. "Do not think that the situation of pain over the health of President Chavez will translate into weakness."
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell, speaking before the announcement of Chavez's death, denied the accusations.
"Notwithstanding the significant differences between our governments, we continue to believe it important to seek a functional and more productive relationship with Venezuela based on issues of mutual interest," he said. "This fallacious assertion of inappropriate U.S. action leads us to conclude that, unfortunately, the current Venezuelan government is not interested an improved relationship."
A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that two air attaches had been expelled from Venezuela. Air Force Col. David Delmonaco was on his way back to the United States on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale said. Assistant Air Attache Devlin Kostal had been in the United States for training and will not return to Venezuela, Breasseale said.
After announcing the expulsion of one attache, Maduro -- addressing the media in a lengthy statement -- asserted that someday there will be "scientific proof" that Chavez was somehow infected by outsiders.
"An assertion that the United States was somehow involved in causing President Chavez's illness is absurd, and we definitively reject it," Ventrell said.
It isn't the first time that a Venezuelan government official has implied that a plot could be behind Chavez's cancer.
Chavez made the assertion himself in 2011, saying at a military event in Caracas that he wondered whether the United States could be infecting Latin American leaders with the illness. -
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/03/05/venezuelan-president-hugo-chavez-dead-vp-says/Some in anguish, some in fear, Venezuelans raced for home on Tuesday after the government announced the death of President Hugo Chavez, the firebrand socialist who led the nation for 14 years.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro's voice broke and tears ran down his face as he appeared on national television to announce that Chavez died at 4:25 p.m. local time 3:55 p.m EST "after battling hard against an illness over nearly two years."
He did not say what exactly killed Chavez, although the government had announced the previous night that a severe new respiratory infection had severely weakened him.
Just a few hours earlier, Maduro made a virulent speech against enemies he claimed were trying to undermine Venezuelan democracy.
But as he announced the death, Maduro called on Venezuelans to be "dignified inheritors of the giant man" Chavez was.
"Let there be no weakness, no violence. Let there be no hate. In our hearts there should only be one sentiment: Love. Love, peace and discipline."
All across downtown Caracas, shops and restaurants begin closing and Venezuelans hustled for home, some even breaking into a run.
Many had looks of anguish and incredulity on their faces.
"I feel a sorrow so big I can't speak," said Yamilina Barrios, a 39-year-old clerk who works in the Industry Ministry, her face covered in tears.
"He was the best this country had," she said, disconsolately weeping. "I adore him.
"I hope the country calms down and continues the work that he left us, continues in unity and the progress continues," Barrios said.
Among the nervous was Maria Elena Lovera, a 45-year-old housewife.
"I want to go home. People are crazy and are way too upset."
In the only immediately known incident of political violence, a group of masked, helmeted men on motorcycles, some brandishing revolvers, attacked about 40 students who had been protesting for more than a week near the Supreme Court building to demand the government give more information about Chavez's health.
The attackers, who wore no clothing identifying any political allegiance, burned the students' tents and scattered their food just minutes after the death was announced.
"They burned everything we had," said student leader Gaby Arellano. She said none of the attackers fired a shot but that she saw four with pistols.
Maduro called on Venezuelans to convene in the capital's Bolivar Square, named for the 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, who Chavez claimed as his chief inspiration.
The vice president also called on the opposition to respect "the people's pain."
"Those who never supported the comandante Hugo Chavez, respect the pain of the people. This is the moment to think of our families, of our country."
Chavez leaves behind a socialist political movement firmly in control of the nation, but with some doubt about how a new leadership will be formed.
Chavez's illness prevented him from taking the oath of office after he was re-elected to a new term on Oct. 7 and under the constitution, National Assembly chief Diosdado Cabello apparently would take over as interim president.
But there was no sign of Cabello on the podium as Maduro announced Chavez's death.
The constitution also says that elections should be called in 30 days. Chavez had specified that his supporters should support Maduro as his successor.
The man Chavez defeated in October, the youthful Miranda state Gov. Henrique Capriles, would be expected to represent the opposition.
Venezuela's defense minister also appeared on television to announce that the military will remain loyal to the constitution in the wake of Chavez's death.
Admiral Diego Molero appealed for "unity, tranquility and understanding" among Venezuelans.
The announcement stunned Venezuelans, if it did not surprise them.
Earlier in the day, Maduro used a more belligerent tone as he announced the government had expelled two U.S. diplomats from the country and said "we have no doubt" that Chavez's cancer, which was first diagnosed in June 2011, was induced by "the historical enemies of our homeland."
He compared the situation to the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, claiming Arafat was "inoculated with an illness."
Chavez's inner circle has long claimed the United States was behind a failed 2002 attempt to overthrow him, and he has frequently played the anti-American card to stir up support. Venezuela has been without a U.S. ambassador since July 2010.
Maduro has been taking on a larger role since Chavez urged Venezuelans to choose him as president before disappearing in early December to undergo a fourth round of cancer surgery in Cuba.
He accused U.S. Embassy's Air Force attache Col. David Delmonaco of spying on Venezuela's military and seeking to involve officers in "destabilizing projects." Maduro gave Delmonaco 24 hours to leave, and U.S. officials said he had already departed the country.
Maduro said Tuesday that the government was "on the trail of other elements that figure in this entire venomous scenario and are seeking to stir up trouble."
Later Tuesday, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said a second U.S. Air Force attache was being expelled, also for alleged espionage.
"Let's remember that active participation of the United States in the fascist coup of 2002," Jaua said.
Chavez has run Venezuela for more than 14 years as a virtual one-man show, gradually placing all state institutions under his personal control. But the former army paratroop commander, who rose to fame by launching a failed 1992 coup, never groomed a successor with his same kind of force of personality.
The campaign for the upcoming election to replace him, though undeclared, has nevertheless already begun.
Maduro has frequently commandeered all broadcast channels, Chavez-style, to tout the "revolution" and vilify the opposition.
Maduro on Tuesday repeated government claims that Capriles met in the United States over the weekend with right-wing U.S. conspirators and was planning to meet over the weekend with Roberta Jacobsen, assistant U.S. secretary of state for the hemisphere.
One personality on state TV also accused the Capriles family of buying a New York City apartment with stolen funds.
Capriles responded via Twitter Tuesday by calling Maduro a liar.
"Lie after lie in every speech," he said.
Chavez, long famed for his marathon appearances at televised events, had neither been seen nor heard from, except for photos released in mid-February, since submitting to a fourth round of surgery in Cuba on Dec. 11 for an unspecified cancer in the pelvic area. It was first diagnosed in June 2011.
The government said Chavez returned home on Feb. 18 and has been confined to Caracas' military hospital ever since.
Maduro said last week that the president had begun receiving chemotherapy around the end of January.
Among those stunned by the announcement was 38-year-old soft drink seller Nelson Ramirez, who sympathized with the fallen president.
"This is the worst thing that could have happened to our country," he said. "Without Chavez, I don't know what will happen here. We poor people could be forgotten again."
On the other side of Venezuela's political divide was Carlos Quijada, a 38-year-old economist who said he was sad that death rather than an election defeat had written Chavez's political obituary.
"Now there is a lot of uncertainty about what is going to happen," he said. -
R.I.P. -
It's going to be on the news in south america for the next several days
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R.I.P President Chavez. The sharks are gonna come for your nationalized oil now.
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eh, good riddance. also, token joke goes here about how the government media in Venezuela was reporting how he was totally recovering with no issues up until he died
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Puppet government soon to come. An American "friendly" candidate will take over and all those sweet resources are gonna be getting taken
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......and Obama Stanfield leaves another body in a vacant house.
don't get that "cancer" ? twisted, the CIA's had assassination drugs that cause cancer since the 50s. -
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The Venezuelans down here in Miami were celebrating lol.
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Obama has been there for some major ass deaths lol.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id--ZFtjR5c