http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/03/20133522030252330.html
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dies of cancer
Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez has died after a two-year battle with
cancer, ending the socialist leader's 14-year rule.
Last Modified: 05 Mar 2013 22:40
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Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba in June to remove a tumor from his
pelvic region
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a two-year battle with
cancer, ending the socialist leader's 14-year rule of the South American
country, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised speech.
Maduro, surrounded by other government officials, announced the death in
a national television broadcast on Tuesday. He said Chavez died at 4:25 p.m.
local time.
Reaction from around the world to Chavez's death was swift.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he is "conveying condolence" to the
Venezuelan president's "family and the people of Venezuela," according to Al
Jazeera's James Bays, who was reporting from the UN in New York.
Russia's ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin also issued as statement
describing Chavez's death as a "tragedy".
"He was a great politician for his country and for the world as a whole,"
Churkin said.
During more than 14 years in office, Chavez routinely challenged the
status quo at home and internationally.
Chavez also polarised Venezuelans with his confrontational and
domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who
tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the
poor.
Chavez repeatedly proved himself a political survivor. As an army
paratroop commander, he led a failed coup in 1992, then was pardoned and
elected president in 1998. He survived a coup against his own presidency in
2002 and won re-election two more times.
The burly president electrified crowds with his booming voice, often
wearing the bright red of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela or the
fatigues and red beret of his army days.
Before his struggle with cancer, he appeared on television almost daily,
talking for hours at a time and often breaking into song of philosophical
discourse.
Chavez used his country's vast oil wealth to launch social programs that
include state-run food markets, new public housing, free health clinics and
education programs.
Poverty declined during Chavez's presidency amid a historic boom in oil
earnings, but critics said he failed to use the windfall of hundreds of
billions of dollars to develop the country's economy.
Inflation soared and the homicide rate rose to among the highest in the
world.
The populist leader of oil-rich Venezuela became Latin America's most
vocal and controversial leader and was Washington's chief antagonist in the
region.
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