Hugo chavez is dead

[Nikka]

R.I.P.

[Fancy fancy]

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has died, his vice-president has announced.

Mr Chavez had not appeared in public since he returned to Venezuela last month after cancer treatment in Cuba.

An emotional Nicolas Maduro made the announcement on Tuesday evening, flanked by leading Venezuelan political and military leaders.

Earlier, he said the 58-year-old Venezuelan leader had a new, severe respiratory infection and had entered "his most difficult hours".

One of the most visible, vocal and controversial leaders in Latin America, the former army paratrooper won the presidency in 1998 and had most recently won another six-year presidential term in October 2012.

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Hugo Chavez

Born 28 July 1954 in Sabaneta, Barinas state, the son of schoolteachers
Graduated from military academy in 1975
Had four children
Keen baseball player
Last May, he said he had recovered from an unspecified cancer, after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy in 2011 and a further operation in February 2012.

However, in December 2012, he announced he needed further cancer surgery in Cuba, and named his Vice-President, Nicolas Maduro, as his preferred successor should the need arise.

Mr Chavez remained out of public view, finally returning to Venezuela in February

[Fancy fancy]

You know what, I don't know if this guy was good for Venezuela or not (and latin America & what he stood for) so I ain't gonna comment & leave it to the more well informed.

I think Latin America is changing though.

[bluesoul]

R.I.P.

julian assange: *gulp*
rest of the world: huh?

[Stavros]

Nothing personal, but I could never get excited about a man who saw no problem linking socialism with nationalism. Had Venezuela not become so polarised in the years before he was elected, it might not have needed someone like him to shake up a corrupt and ossified political culture. But then Venezuela has an abundance of oil and has money to spend -but is it spending on the right things, building for a long term future, or just giving away gifts to people in return for votes? Oil-rich states that play games in international politics usually mess up in the long term; Chavez could have built strong relationships with Colombia but chose confrontation instead -I think he liked it, but neither country benefited as a result.

Either way, beauty pageants are BIG business in Venezuela, and although I don't know many -well, any!- Venezuelan transexuals (cue Nikka -you must know some!), that at least is not going to change.

[GroobySteven]

He was certainly on his way to dictatorship.

[GroobySteven]

julian assange: *gulp*
rest of the world: huh?

That's funny!

[Prospero]

Not as clued as I should be on south america either, but I certainly recall a lot of bad publicity about the repressiveness of his regime.

[Bigshot88]

R.I.P.

It used to annoy me when he would threaten or insult my country, until I realized that the guy was just a provocateur and a clown of the highest order. Got plenty of those insulting us to go around, so no point going around angry at all of them. Rest in peace.

[buttslinger]

Castro supposedly slept with 35,000 women in his life. It's good to be Dictator.