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<b><big><big>Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, dies in Caracas</big></big></b>
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data-component="Article:standfirst_cta">Death comes 21 months after it
was revealed he had a tumour, and he will be given a state funeral in
the capital</p>
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<div class="contributor-full"> <span itemscope="" itemprop="author"
itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name"><a
class="contributor" rel="author" itemprop="url"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jonathanwatts">Jonathan Watts</a></span></span>,
Latin America correspondent </div>
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<li class="publication"> <a itemprop="publisher"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">guardian.co.uk</a>, <time
itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2013-03-05T17:03EST" pubdate="">Tuesday
5 March 2013 17.03 EST</time></li>
<li class="publication"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/05/hugo-chavez-dies-cuba">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/05/hugo-chavez-dies-cuba</a><br>
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<div class="caption" itemprop="caption">Hugo Chávez at the closing
rally of his 2012 election campaign. Despite fears for his health, he
won more votes than in any other election. Photograph:
Orinoquiaphoto/LatinContent/Getty Images</div>
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<p>Hugo Chavéz, the president of <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/venezuela"
title="More from guardian.co.uk on Venezuela">Venezuela</a>, has died
in a military hospital after a long battle against cancer, the
vice-president has announced, prompting a wave of mourning in the
country he ruled since 1999 with a globally distinctive and influential
style of leadership.</p>
<p>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
undergoing emergency surgery in Cuba on 11 December.</p>
<p>He will be given a state funeral in Caracas, likely to be attended
by millions of supporters and leftwing leaders from across the globe
who have been inspired by Chavéz's doctrine of "Bolivarian 21st-century
socialism", grateful for the subsidised energy he provided or simply
impressed by his charisma.</p>
<p>His death will also trigger a presidential election, which must be
held within 30 days, to decide who controls the world's greatest
untapped reserves of oil. Chavéz's designated successor is the
vice-president, Nicolás Maduro, who is likely to face Henrique
Capriles, the losing <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/03/henrique-capriles-topple-hugo-chavez"
title="">opposition candidate in the most recent presidential election</a>.
Until then, according to the constitution, the interim president should
be the head of the national assembly, Diosdado Cabello.</p>
<p>Replacing one of most colourful figures on the global political
landscape will be an immense challenge. Born to a poor family on the
plains, Chavéz 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 a
inspiration for the resurgent Latin American left and the most
outspoken – and often humorous – critic of the US, the war in Iraq and
former president George W Bush, whom he described as a "donkey" and a
"devil".</p>
<p>Formerly one of the most dynamic political leaders in the world with
a globe-trotting schedule and a weekly, unscripted TV broadcast that
usually went on for hours, Chavéz shocked his countrymen in June 2011
when he revealed that Cuban surgeons had removed a baseball-sized
tumour from his pelvic region.</p>
<p>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 of
office.</p>
<p>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 election battles, prompting him to proclaim
victory in a "perfect battle".</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Beyond a set of four photographs released last month that showed a
remarkably hearty looking Chavez 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.</p>
<p>But officials acknowledged that Chavez 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p>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
Chavez."</p>
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