Hugo Chavez, passionate but polarizing Venezuelan president, dead at 58

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who went from a young conspiratorial soldier who dreamed of revolution to the fiery anti-U.S. leader of one of the world’s great oil powers, died March 5 in Caracas of complications from an unspecified cancer in his pelvic area.

He was 58 and had been president since 1999, longer than any other democratically elected leader in the Americas. Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the death.

Mr. Chavez first revealed in a brief, dramatic television address in June 2011 that he had undergone two surgical procedures in Cuba. He would go under the knife two more times, greatly weakening the once robust leader. Mr. Chavez had been elected in October 2012 to a third six-year term. But he missed his swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 10 while lying gravely ill in a Havana hospital after undergoing what his aides had called a complex operation a month before.

The country was plunged into an institutional crisis, with Mr. Chavez’s foes accusing the government of violating the constitution. But Mr. Chavez’s lieutenants managed to buy time until their leader’s pre-dawn return to Venezuela on Feb. 18. He remained at a Caracas military hospital, with his Twitter account bursting out messages such as “Onward toward victory always!! We will live and we will triumph!!”

As an obscure 37-year-old lieutenant colonel, Mr. Chavez had led a failed coup in 1992 against President Carlos Andres Perez’s government. Six years later, on Dec. 6, 1998, Mr. Chavez was elected president in a landslide after pledging to replace a broken, corrupt political system and redistribute the country’s substantial oil-fueled wealth.

Mr. Chavez left Venezuela deeply polarized, his supporters lionizing him as a courageous rebel determined to take on the elites, and his foes painting him as a dangerous demagogue and strongman.

The former army paratrooper promised a revolution and reveled in what he considered a battle to end all vestiges of the power structure then in place in Venezuela, especially its close economic and political ties to the United States.

Quickly moving to overturn the old order, Mr. Chavez marginalized the traditional power brokers who had held influence in Venezuela, attacked establishment institutions and upended the country’s economy.

Combative in olive green uniform and red beret, Mr. Chavez called his opponents “degenerates” and “squealing pigs,” referred to the Catholic Church hierarchy as “devils in vestments” and labeled critics “counterrevolutionaries.”

“Oligarchs tremble, because now is when the revolution is going forward,” he warned in 2000, after the constitution had been redrawn and a new legislature dominated by his allies had taken over. “This is going to be delicious; we’re going to deliver a knockout punch to the counterrevolution.”

His guiding light was the 19th-century independence liberator Simon Bolivar, whose pronouncements, writings and philosophy found their way into nearly every speech Mr. Chavez gave.

The new president renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and he labeled his philosophy Bolivarian. Mr. Chavez sought the unification of South America, reviving Bolivar’s unmet dream. He also called for a rejection of the so-called Washington Consensus, a policy that includes a drop in tariffs, adherence to tight spending, privatizations of state industries and other economic orthodoxy.

A gifted, charismatic orator with a keen ability to connect with the poor masses, Mr. Chavez was able to marshal public backing for a series of referendums that created a new constitution and permitted him to bring every important institution — from the legislature to the state oil company — under his control.

On the world stage, Mr. Chavez set Venezuela on a collision course with Washington, blaming American foreign policy and U.S.-style capitalism for much of Latin America’s social ills.

For an international left that was yearning for a passionate and magnetic leader, Mr. Chavez was a blessing.

He criticized the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and, in a speech at the United Nations in 2006, said President George W. Bush was “the devil.” He called Tony Blair, then Britain’s prime minister, “an imperialist pawn who attempts to curry favor” with the Americans. He accused Israel of genocide, saying its treatment of the Palestinian people was akin to a “new Holocaust.”

Mr. Chavez sought out relationships with assorted rebel groups, rogues and pariah governments. He exchanged letters with Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, a Venezuelan-born terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, who was held in a French prison. He asserted that Moammar Gaddafi’s Libya was a model of participatory democracy.

Closer to home, Mr. Chavez expressed affinity for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a potent guerrilla group fighting Colombia’s U.S.-friendly government. His closest aides built a close relationship with FARC commanders, according to Colombian officials, rebel documents seized in army raids and former rebels.

Ties to Iran and Cuba

Mr. Chavez particularly irked the United States by building a close alliance with Iran and Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba, which found in Venezuela a deep- pocketed benefactor to replace the one the communist island lost with the breakup of the Soviet Union.

After taking office, Mr. Chavez began providing 100,000 barrels of oil a day to Castro’s government at subsidized rates; in exchange, Castro shipped thousands of Cuban workers, from intelligence agents to doctors and sports trainers, to Venezuela.

Drawing from the largest oil deposits in the world, Mr. Chavez embarked on a foreign policy in which oil, provided cheap to prospective allies, was freely used to help build an alliance to counter U.S. influence. In a grandiose plan to unite Latin America, Mr. Chavez formed an alliance he called ALBA, the Bolivarian Alliance for the People of Our America.

He bought more than $2.5 billion in Argentine bonds, created a Bank of the South to counter Washington-based multilateral lenders and pledged to build a pipeline across the continent and construct housing, highways and oil refineries.

Venezuela’s opaque financing, though, made it difficult to ascertain exactly how many projects were completed. And by 2012, many of Mr. Chavez’s most ambitious projects — a pipeline linking Venezuela to Argentina, the Bank of the South, a refinery in Brazil — had been quietly mothballed, as Venezuela’s economy struggled.

Mr. Chavez enjoyed warm ties with most Latin American countries, but his ALBA bloc attracted as members only the anachronistic regime in Cuba and some of the poorest countries in the region, among them Nicaragua and Bolivia.

Some officials who worked with Venezuela said they were put off by Mr. Chavez’s revolutionary, anti-U.S., anti-capitalist rhetoric.

“His discourse was political, ideological, about the liberation of the Americas, of fighting the forces of imperialism,” said the former governor of Pernambuco state in Brazil’s northeast, Jarbas Vasconcelos, who had tried to obtain Venezuelan financing for an oil refinery. “He imagined commanding a revolution in all the Americas against the United States.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hugo-chavez-passionate-but-pola...

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Permalink Reply by Central Scrutinizer on March 5, 2013 at 6:42pm

Accuses USA of giving Chavez cancer

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Permalink Reply by Central Scrutinizer on March 5, 2013 at 8:02pm

LONDON (AFP)

2216 GMT: VENEZUELA DEPLOYS ITS ARMY AND POLICE FOLLOWING CHAVEZ'S DEATH, MADURO SAYS

WELCOME TO AFP'S LIVE REPORT on the death of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez at the age of 58.

The iconic yet controversial leader's death was announced by Vice President Nicolas Maduro shortly after it was suffering from a severe infection following treatment for cancer.

"We have received the hardest and most tragic news that... comandante President Hugo Chavez died today at 4:25 pm," Maduro announced on state television.

http://www.afp.com/en/news/topstories/hugo-chavez-death-live-report

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Permalink Reply by guest_blog on March 5, 2013 at 8:16pm

Venezuela deploys army, police

NEWS.com.au ‎- 2 hours ago

VENEZUELA has deployed its army and police in the wake of President Hugo Chavez's death, as the nation enters a period of political ...

Venezuela's army moves to centre stage

Brisbane Times‎ - 2 hours ago
URGENT ¥¥¥ Venezuela deploys army, police after Chavez death: VP

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 5, 2013 at 11:34pm

Zacarias 2:8 Porque así ha dicho Jehová de los ejércitos: Tras la gloria me enviará él a las naciones que os despojaron; porque el que os toca, toca a la niña de su ojo.
2:9 Porque he aquí yo alzo mi mano sobre ellos, y serán despojo a sus siervos, y sabréis que Jehová de los ejércitos me envió.
2:10 Canta y alégrate, hija de Sion; porque he aquí vengo, y moraré en medio de ti, ha dicho Jehová.
2:11 Y se unirán muchas naciones a Jehová en aquel día, y me serán por pueblo, y moraré en medio de ti; y entonces conocerás que Jehová de los ejércitos me ha enviado a ti.
2:12 Y Jehová poseerá a Judá su heredad en la tierra santa, y escogerá aún a Jerusalén.
2:13 Calle toda carne delante de Jehová; porque él se ha levantado de su santa morada.

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 5, 2013 at 11:39pm

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 5, 2013 at 11:59pm

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 6, 2013 at 12:11am

King Juan Carlos of Spain tells Hugo Chavez to "shut up"

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Permalink Reply by Central Scrutinizer on March 6, 2013 at 11:10am

Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor at helm in Venezuela, for time being

In photo released by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro addresses nation to annunce death of President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, March 5, 2013.

CARACAS, Venezuela Even in death, Hugo Chavez's orders are being followed. The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists' candidate in an election to be called within 30 days.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua confirmed those plans Tuesday, just hours after Maduro, tears running down his face, announced the death of Chavez, the larger-than-life former paratroop officer who had presided over Venezuela as virtually a one-man show for more than 14 years.

It was not immediately clear when the presidential vote would be held.

Considerable funeral pageantry was expected to honor Chavez, the political impresario widely adored among Venezuela's poor for putting the oil-rich state in their service.

Seven days of mourning were declared, all school was suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected in this economically challenged and violence-afflicted nation for an elaborate funeral Friday. No date or place was announced for Chavez's burial.

Venezuela's constitution specifies that the speaker of the National Assembly, currently Diosdado Cabello, should assume the interim presidency if a president can't be sworn in.

But the officials left in charge by Chavez before he went to Cuba in December for his fourth cancer surgery in a little less than two years have not been especially assiduous about heeding the constitution, and human rights and free speech activists are concerned they will continue to flaunt the rule of law.

Some in anguish, some in fear, Venezuelans raced for home and stocked up on food and water after the government announced Chavez's death, declining to say what exactly killed him. On Monday night, the government had said the president had been weakened by a severe, new respiratory infection.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57572743/hugo-chavezs-handpicke...

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 6, 2013 at 8:30pm

Could one of the world’s top petroleum producers really go bankrupt?

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Human Rights in Venezuela

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Algunas consideraciones sobre tu muerte

SAÚL GODOY GÓMEZ | EL UNIVERSAL

martes 9 de agosto de 2011 09:50 AM

No quiero que te marches de esta vida sin antes despedirnos, porque has hecho un mal inmenso a mucha gente, has arruinado a familias enteras, has obligado a legiones de compatriotas a emigrar a otras tierras, has vestido de luto a incontables hogares, a los que creías tus enemigos los perseguiste sin cuartel, los encerraste en ergástulas que no lo merece ni un animal, los insultaste, los humillaste, te burlaste de ellos, no solo porque te creías poderoso, sino inmortal... porque el fin de los tiempos no era contigo.

Pero llegó tu turno, los plazos se acaban, el término de tu contrato llega a su fin, tu "ciclo vital" se apaga poco a poco y no de la mejor manera; probablemente morirás en una cama, rodeado de tu familia, asustada, porque va a tener que rendir cuentas una vez que des tu último aliento, te vas de esta vida lleno de angustia y de miedo, allí van a estar los curas a quienes perseguiste e insultaste, los representantes de esa Iglesia que ultrajaste a placer, claro que te van a dar la extremaunción y los santos óleos, no una, sino muchas veces, pero tú y ellos saben que no servirá de nada, es solo para calmar el pánico que hace presa a tu alma ante el momento que todo lo define.

Mueres enfermo, padeciendo el desahucio, las complicaciones inmunológicas, los terribles efectos secundarios de las curas que prometieron alargar tu vida, tus órganos se van apagando uno a uno, tus facultades van perdiendo el brillo que las caracterizaba, tus líquidos y efluvios son colectados en bolsas plásticas con ese hedor a muerte que tanto te repugna.

Dime si en este momento, antes de que te apliquen una nueva inyección para calmar los dolores insoportables que padeces, vale la pena que me digas que no te pueden quitar lo bailado, ¡ah! los viajes por el mundo, los maravillosos palacios que te recibieron, las paradas militares en tu honor, las limousines, los títulos honorarios, los pisos de los hoteles cinco estrellas, las fastuosas cenas de Estado... dime ahora que vomitas la papilla de auyama que te tratan de dar las enfermeras, si era de eso de lo que se trataba la vida, pues ese brillo y el oropel ya no están entre los monitores y máquinas de resucitamiento que te rodean, esas marchas y aplausos ahora son tonos y alarmas de sensores que regulan tus signos vitales que se hacen más débiles.

¿Puedes escuchar al pueblo de tu país afuera de tu cuarto?... debe ser tu imaginación o los efectos de la morfina, no estás en tu patria, estas en otro lado, muy lejos, entre gente que no conoces... sí, estás muriendo en tu propio exilio, entre una banda de pilluelos a quienes les has tratado de entregar tu propio país, tus últimos momentos los pasarás entre chulos y estafadores, entre tu corte de aduladores que solo te muestran afecto porque les dabas dinero y poder, todos te miran preocupados y con rabia, nunca dejaste que ninguno de ellos pudiera tener la oportunidad de sucederte, ahora los dejas al descampado y tu país al borde de una guerra, ¿Era eso lo que querías? ¿Fue esa tu misión en esta vida? Olvídate del cuento de los pobres, ahora hay más pobres que cuando llegaste al poder, olvídate de justicia e igualdad cuando prácticamente le entregaste el país a una fuerza extranjera que ahora tendremos de desalojar a la fuerza y a costas de más vidas.

Tengo la leve impresión que ahora sabes que te equivocaste, creíste en un cuento de camino y te creíste revolucionario, y por ser revolucionario... inmortal, convocaste a tu lado a los muertos, a tus héroes, a esos fantasmas que también creíste con vida, a Bolívar, al Che, a Fidel, al Marx que nunca conociste y que recomendabas su lectura... el andar con muertos te llevó a la magia y a los babalaos, te metiste a jurungar tumbas, y a ofrendarle a una corte de demonios y malos espíritus que ahora te acompañan... ¿Sientes su presencia en el cuarto? Vienen a cobrar, a recoger lo único que tenía valor en tu vida y que tan malamente apostaste por la oscuridad y el mal, tu alma.

Bueno, me despido, solo quería que supieras que pasarás a la historia como un traidor y un cobarde, que no rectificaste cuando pudiste, te dejaste llevar por tu soberbia, por tus ideales, por tu ideología renunciando a los más preciado, a tu libertad y a la libertad de los otros, y la libertad nos hace humanos.
Dios tenga piedad de ti.