Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez dies at 58

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-21679053

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has died, his vice-president has announced.

Mr Chavez had not appeared in public since he returned to Venezuela last month after cancer treatment in Cuba.

An emotional Nicolas Maduro made the announcement on Tuesday evening, flanked by leading Venezuelan political and military leaders.

Earlier, he said the 58-year-old Venezuelan leader had a new, severe respiratory infection and had entered "his most difficult hours".

He also announced the government had expelled two US diplomats from the country for spying on Venezuela's military.

Mr Maduro said Mr Chavez had died "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years".

He said he had no doubt that Mr Chavez's cancer, first diagnosed in 2011, had been induced by foul play by Venezuela's enemies.

Venezuelan radio reported that military had been deployed across the country.

Under the constitution, the head of Venezuela's Congress, Diosdado Cabello, will assume the interim presidency before an election is held.
Cuba surgery

One of the most visible, vocal and controversial leaders in Latin America, Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1998 and had most recently won another six-year presidential term in October 2012.

Last May, the former army paratrooper said he had recovered from an unspecified cancer, after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy in 2011 and a further operation in February 2012.

However, in December 2012, he announced he needed further cancer surgery in Cuba, and named his Vice-President, Nicolas Maduro, as his preferred successor should the need arise.

Mr Chavez remained out of public view, finally returning to Venezuela in February.

How will this change things in South America? Interesting.

On one side, I hear a bunch of people cheering and on the other I hear the small group of people going: "Oh..."

I am curious on how this will pan out, though!

He was an interesting character, to be sure.

He also announced the government had expelled two US diplomats from the country for spying on Venezuela's military.

Thrown in randomly much?

The diplomats that were expelled already knew the circumstances of the president, he was in vegetative state, they told some high rank Military the truth and after when the government knew it they had the reunion, they decided to disconnect chavez before the diplomats showed the proof to external newspapers.

Nobdy can deny that Chavez was an incredible leader. Eloquent, cunning, clever, someone that knew how to comunicate with people perfectly in order to convince them and get them to his side, proof of this is that half of South America supported him and a few are currently trying to adopt his methods. He implemented some good ideas for people of low resources and even some big scale projects that maybe would have never happened if someone like him didn't come to power. I am someone that is against his movement, but sometimes his speeches could make me doubt of my beliefs. Honestly anyone that says otherwise is a moron...

All that said, it doesn't mean he was leading the country in the right direction. His message was something along the lines of "if you don't follow our ideals then you are not true patriots/ you are pawns of the empire". He made being on his side really attractive by literally gifting a lot of money from our oil and by "suffocating" anyone that publicly talked against him. He kept putting blame for many of the different problems of our country on different sectors despite him being the one in charge. Our economy has suffered the most during his 14 years on power that it did during the 40 years of bad goverments we had before his. Chavez might have been a great lider, but he was also a terrible administrator...

There's so much that could be said about Chavez, but that's not important right now. Regardless what I think of him, Its saddening he had to go through such a hard fight lagainst cancer and lost. I always said that I'd have been satisfied if he had took a bunch of money and ran away to enjoy the rest of his life in Ibiza or whatever. May he rest in peace if he is to deserve it.

Expect his successor to continue the same rhetoric and uphold the same anti-US sentiment.

Chavez was a ruthless leader with a lot of charisma and likability. His country was unquestionably loyal to him.

Though I don't expect to see any major policy changes from the new leadership, I'm really eager to watch the transition of power and curious to see what his successor will do. Some say that Chavez's VP was even more extreme than him.

Chavez was a ruthless leader with a lot of charisma and likability. Half His country was unquestionably loyal to him.

i know three kinds of venezuelans, those who love him, those who hate him and left, and those who hate him yet can't leave.

Chavez was a ruthless leader with a lot of charisma and likability. His country was unquestionably loyal to him.

Half a country at best, half of that half bought the other half just as dumb blind follower of him.

Though I don't expect to see any major policy changes from the new leadership, I'm really eager to watch the transition of power and curious to see what his successor will do. Some say that Chavez's VP was even more extreme than him.

More extreme? More extremely useless unless you... Nah i better not talk much about politics, things gets south pretty quickly.

Sadly for his followers, most of us that live under is government know that there was barely any hint of "Socialism" as he liked to call it, it was more of a "Chavism", a cult to his person, and since that person is dead no longer to leads them, well... Let's just say that no one he left behind its a quarter of the "Political Animal" (Like my dad likes to call him) of what he was.

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."

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."

Venezuelans (That are not loyal to the "Chavism") usually just see those "accusations" of theirs as Comic Relief to be honest :/

Chavez doomed his own empire when he made it a cult to his person, he picked up all the candidates, he was always the "people". "Chavism" without Chavez unlike Christianism without Christ, isn't sustainable, he abused the ignorance and laziness of the people but he had a great ability to do it, Maduro isn't near as good as chavez at that, he lacks confidence and charisma. The economical situation isn't good either, Chavez under valuated the Bolivar around 1000% in 15 years and PDVSA ,almost the only income that Venezuela has, isn't producing as much as they say.

The only ones that are loyal to him to death are the people that feel hate for the 4th republic and that never had the ambition and vision to be something in live. My family was poor when my Grandmother was a child and now we aren't thanks to our effort and sacrifices, while you still see the usual chavist being poor not because he has low incomes but because they can't learn how to administrate money, they spend stupid amount on things like high tech phones and cars but they never buy a House and still want the government to give them one, they IMHO are the real parasite of the country.

In Venezuela if you have a Degree you are called a Mahunche/Escualido, etc. You are hated for being a professional, your effort is not appreciated, you even earn less than those parasites.

People still admire the Utopia that Chavez invented but they never stood and argue with themselves if that was true. With this government even the Bunnies are scum of the empire that has an agenda against the revolution.

More extreme? More extremely useless unless you....

How do you mean? From what I can see he's been very effective at getting the things he's committed his mind to done.

Maduro, the current vice president, doesn't have half the skills Chavez did. People knows it and proof of that is that Venezuela's relationships with some countries have loosened while he was "hidden". Saddly I don't think that will be enough to get Maduro and the Chavism out of the power. The Chavism holds most of the great powers of the country (how you call them in english? electoral, judicial... google doesn't change them), plus goverments that've been getting super cheap petrol from Venezuela will support them aswell as they don't know what a new goverment would do. Also right now, most of Chavez followers will follow Maduro just as an emotional and indirect way to still support their beloved Chavez.

In conclusion, with the next elections in only 30 days, Chavez's dead might still be so fresh on the people to motivate them to vote for Maduro, this could give him enough votes to win, but even if this failed them and couldn't manage to get enough votes, chances are they will rig the elections and get that advantage manipulating their resources. They know if they lose, all the pomegranate they have been doing with the money from the oil will come to light and most of them will fall together, it's a life or death situation for them.

How do you mean? From what I can see he's been very effective at getting the things he's committed his mind to done.

If you're talking about Maduro, the only thing he has accomplished while he's been replacing Chavez was keep every detail about Chavez's health at the upmost secret. Chavez on the other hand was indeed effective getting things done... that benefited him and his movement, but that's more a cause of Venezuela's huge riches from oil than because of his capabilities. In fact, this whole movement wouldn't have been possible in any other south american country than Venezuela.

He rose through the ranks of the legislature pretty fast and was a skilled labor organizer before getting involved in politics. He surrounded himself with everything Chavez long enough to get ahead. I see him as a very effective, pragmatic man.

You would know better than me though. I just figure that it will take more time to sufficiently gauge his motives. Similar dictators have held back on major policy changes until absolute power was consolidated in them. Kim-Jong Un comes to mind.

I guess we will have to wait until after the election.