Venezuelans began seven days of painful and public mourning on Tuesday night after the announcement that their president, Hugo Chávez, had died aged 58 after a long battle against cancer.
The
country's vice-president, Nicolás Maduro – tipped as a likely successor
– broke the news on Tuesday night, prompting a wave of grief in the
nation's streets.
"We have just received the most tragic and awful information. At 4.25pm, President Hugo Chávez Frias died," Maduro announced in a televised address, his voice choking. "It's a moment of deep pain," he said.
Chávez
died at a military hospital in Caracas, the capital of the country he
has ruled since 1999. As soon as the news was announced, supporters
gathered at the city's main square, Plaza Bolivar, and began chanting:
"Chávez vive, la lucha sigue" – "Chávez lives, the battle continues."
People
wearing the red beret the president was known for sang a popular folk
song with the words: "Those who die for life cannot be called dead."
As
messages of condolence came from many world leaders, perhaps the most
significant was from Barack Obama. He said: "At this challenging time of
President Hugo Chávez's passing, the United States reaffirms its
support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a
constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government. As Venezuela
begins a new chapter in its history, the US remains committed to
policies that promote democratic principles, the rule of law and respect
for human rights."
Chávez, 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 emergency surgery in Cuba on 11 December.
He
will be given a state funeral in Caracas on Friday, 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, to be held within 30 days, to decide who controls
the world's greatest untapped reserves of oil.
His designated successor, Maduro, is likely to face Henrique Capriles, the losing opposition candidate in the presidential election
held a few months ago in October 2012. Until then, according to the
constitution, the interim president should be the head of the national
assembly, Diosdado Cabello. However on Tuesday night the Venezuelan
foreign minister, Elias Jaua, said Maduro was the interim president. It
was not clear whether this would only apply until the official calling
of the election and beginning of the campaign, or whether Maduro would
remain in charge until the election result was determined.
Robert
Menendez, chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, called
for free and fair elections to replace Chávez. "Hugo Chavez ruled
Venezuela with an iron hand and his passing has left a political void
that we hope will be filled peacefully and through a constitutional and
democratic process, grounded in the Venezuelan constitution and adhering
to the Inter-American Democratic Charter."
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 an inspiration for the resurgent Latin
American left and the most outspoken – and often humorous – critic of
the US, the war in Iraq and George 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 – often hours long – 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. 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 elections
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."
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