Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dies
March 5, 2013 -- Updated 2326 GMT (0726 HKT)
Army Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, who led
a 1992 attempted coup, speaks to reporters on March 26, 1994, after he
was freed from jail. Chavez was freed after charges were dropped against
him for leading the first of two attempted coups against the government
of former President Carlos Andres Perez, who was later removed from
office.
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Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's vocal leader
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Venezuela's defense minister says troops are deploying to ensure safety
- Chavez died Tuesday afternoon, Vice President Nicolas Maduro says
- "We must unite now more than ever," Maduro says
- Plans for Chavez's funeral will be announced in the coming hours, he says
In a national broadcast, Maduro said Chavez died Tuesday at 4:25 p.m. (3:55 p.m. ET).
Flanked by Cabinet ministers, Maduro teared up as he announced the news.
"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.
He did not specify when elections would be held.
"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 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, Chavez tapped Maduro as his replacement
"if something were to happen that would incapacitate me" and called for
voters to support him.
"My firm opinion, as
clear as the full moon -- irrevocable, absolute, total -- is ... that
you elect Nicolas Maduro as president," Chavez said in early December,
waving a copy of the Venezuelan Constitution as he spoke. "I ask this of
you from my heart. He is one of the young leaders with the greatest
ability to continue, if I cannot."
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.
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 Costal 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.
