Fear, tears as Venezuela announces death of Chavez

Vice President Nicolas Maduro's voice broke and tears ran down his face as he appeared on national television to announce that Chavez died at 4:25 p.m. local time (3:55 p.m. EST, 1755 GMT) “after battling hard against an illness over nearly two years.”

He did not say what exactly killed Chavez, although the government had announced the previous night that a severe new respiratory infection had severely weakened him.

A few hours later, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua affirmed one of Chavez's final wishes: Maduro would be interim president and then be the ruling party's candidate to carry on Chavez's populist “revolution” in elections to be called within 30 days.

It was a day fraught with mixed signals, some foreboding and some violent. Just a few hours before announcing Chavez's death, Maduro made a virulent speech against enemies he claimed were trying to undermine Venezuelan democracy.

And he said two U.S. military attaches had been expelled for trying to destabilize the nation.

In announcing the death of the former army paratrooper who wielded Venezuela's oil wealth to benefit the poor and win friends regionally, Maduro shifted tone.

He called on Venezuelans to be “dignified heirs of the giant man” Chavez was.

“Let there be no weakness, no violence. Let there be no hate. In our hearts there should only be one sentiment: Love. Love, peace and discipline.”

The government declared 7 days of mourning and closed all schools and universities until next Monday.

(Related stories on pages 3 and 6)

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	Elephants in Africa facing 'alarming declines': activists

NEXT ARTICLE
Suspense over conclave as cardinals speak out

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit