Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela,
has died in a military hospital after a long battle against cancer, the
vice-president has announced, prompting a wave of mourning in the
country he ruled since 1999 with a
globally distinctive and influential
style of leadership.
The symbol of Latin American socialism
succumbed to a respiratory infection on Tuesday evening, 21 months after
he first revealed he had a tumour. He had not been seen in public for
three months since undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba on 11 December.
He
will be given a state funeral in Caracas, likely to be attended by
millions of supporters and leftwing leaders from across the globe who
have been inspired by Chávez’s doctrine of “Bolivarian 21st-century
socialism”, grateful for the subsidised energy he provided or simply
impressed by his charisma.
His death will also trigger a
presidential election, which must be held within 30 days, to decide who
controls the world’s greatest untapped reserves of oil. Chávez’s
designated successor is the vice-president, Nicolás Maduro, who is
likely to face Henrique Capriles, the losing opposition candidate in the most recent presidential election.
Until then, according to the constitution, the interim president should
be the head of the national assembly, Diosdado Cabello.
Replacing
one of most colourful figures on the global political landscape will be
an immense challenge. Born to a poor family on the plains, Chávez
became a tank commander and a devotee of South America’s liberator,
Simón Bolívar. A failed coup in 1992 propelled him into the limelight
but it was his ballot box triumphs that made him a inspiration for the
resurgent Latin American left and the most outspoken – and often
humorous – critic of the US, the war in Iraq and former president George
W Bush, whom he described as a “donkey” and a “devil”.
Formerly
one of the most dynamic political leaders in the world with a
globe-trotting schedule and a weekly, unscripted TV broadcast that
usually went on for hours, Chávez shocked his countrymen in June 2011
when he revealed that Cuban surgeons had removed a baseball-sized tumour
from his pelvic region.
After that, he underwent several rounds
of chemotherapy and two more operations in what he described as a
“battle for health and for life”. His medical records were never made
public, prompting widespread speculation about his imminent demise, but
he and his supporters insisted he was recovering. Before the
presidential election in October 2012, aides claimed he was well enough
to complete a full term of office.
During that campaign, Chávez
was clearly affected by his illness. But although he made fewer and
shorter appearances, he won more votes than in any of his earlier
election battles, prompting him to proclaim victory in a “perfect
battle”.
Fears about his health escalated after he rushed to Cuba
for hyperbaric oxygen treatment on 27 November. Less than a fortnight
later, he made a televised address in which he said that doctors had
discovered malignant cells that required surgery and urged Venezuelans
to vote for Maduro if he was incapacitated.
Since his
operation in December, Chávez has been visited by family members and
several of his closest political allies, including Fidel and Raul Castro
of Cuba, Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa and Bolivian president Evo
Morales.
Beyond a set of four photographs released last
month that showed a remarkably hearty looking Chávez smiling in a
hospital bed and flanked by his daughters, the president has not been
seen or heard for three months. This prompted frequent rumours that the
president was dead or on life support. The government denied this and
said he continued to run the country by writing down his orders.
But
officials acknowledged that Chávez suffered multiple complications
after his surgery including respiratory infections and bleeding. He had
to undergo more chemotherapy and drug treatments and could only breathe
through a tracheal tube.
He returned from Cuba on 18
February at his own request, said officials. Since then he has been
treated at Carlos Arvelo military hospital in Caracas.
Hopes
for a recovery dimmed on Monday, when minister of communications,
Ernesto Villegas, said the president’s condition had declined due to a
“new and serious respiratory infection.”
Constitutional
questions have been raised by his long hospitalisation and absence from
public life, which he formerly dominated with dynamic and provocative
appearances on his weekly television address, “Hello Mr President.” When
he failed to attend his scheduled inauguration on 10 January, the
opposition asked who is running the country. The ruling party responded
with a rally of more than 100,000 supporters, many carrying banners
declaring “We are Chávez.”
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/05/hugo-chavez-dies-cuba