‘Humble soldier’ vilified America
CHAVEZ: Venezuelan leader loses cancer fight
CARACAS — Late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was a fighter. The former paratroop commander and fiery populist waged a continual battle for his socialist ideals and outsmarted his rivals, defeating a coup attempt, winning re-election three times and using his country’s vast oil wealth to his political advantage.
A self-described “subversive,” Chavez fashioned himself after 19th-century independence leader Simon Bolivar, renaming his country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He called himself a “humble soldier” in a battle for socialism and against U.S. hegemony. He thrived on confrontation with Washington and his political opponents at home, and used those conflicts to rally his followers.
Almost the only adversary it seemed he couldn’t beat was cancer. He died Tuesday in Caracas after a prolonged illness. He was 58. During more than 14 years as president, his leftist politics and grandiose style polarized Venezuelans. The barrelchested leader electrified crowds with his booming voice, won admiration among the poor with government social programs and his folksy, nationalistic style.
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro’s voice broke and tears ran down his face as he appeared on television to announce that Chavez died “after battling hard against an illness over nearly two years.” He did not say what exactly killed Chavez, although it was announced Monday that a severe respiratory infection had weakened him. Foreign Minister Elias Jaua affirmed one of Chavez’s final wishes: Maduro would be interim president and the ruling party’s candidate to carry on Chavez’s “revolution” in elections within 30 days.