Venezuela's Hugo Chavez dies from cancer

The flamboyant 58-year-old had undergone four operations in Cuba for a cancer that was first detected in his pelvic region in mid-2011. He vanished from public view after December 11 surgery that resulted in complications and respiratory infections.

"It's a moment of deep pain," said Vice President Nicolas Maduro, choking up during a national address. "Commander, thank you so much, on behalf of these people whom you protected."

Military chiefs quickly pledged loyalty to Maduro, who will be caretaker leader until elections are called within 30 days. Weeping Chavez supporters poured onto the streets, chanting "Chavez lives! The revolution continues!" and "We are Chavez!"

"Don't let anyone try to convince you Chavez has gone ... He will always be with us," said Congress head Diosdado Cabello.

The president's death was announced by Maduro, flanked by cabinet ministers, less than an hour after he passed away.

State TV broadcast Chavez's emotional last speech from December, shops in Caracas locked up for fear of looting, and condolences came from around the world, including messages from filmmaker Oliver Stone and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Tensions ran high in some areas. Colombia's RCN TV showed one of its reporters bleeding from a head wound after she was apparently beaten by Chavez supporters outside the military hospital.

Chavez easily won a new six-year term at an election in October and his death is devastating for millions of supporters who adored his charismatic style, anti-U.S. rhetoric and oil-financed policies that brought subsidized food and free health clinics to long-neglected slums.

Detractors, however, saw his one-man style, gleeful nationalizations and often harsh treatment of opponents as traits of an egotistical dictator whose misplaced statist economics wasted a historic bonanza of oil revenues.

Chavez's corpse will lie in state at a Caracas military academy until a formal funeral ceremony on Friday, and seven days of mourning will be observed, officials said.

"The funeral of Chavez is going to rival Eva Peron's in Argentina," said Daniel Hellinger, a Venezuela expert in the United States, referring to the beloved former first lady of Argentina who died at the height of her popularity in 1952.

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