UPDATED: Venezuela President Hugo Chavez dies

March 5th, 2013 (InsideCostaRica.com)  Venezuelan Vice President, Nicolas Maduro has just announced (approx. 4pm Costa Rica time – GMT-6) that Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, has died.

The announcement was made in a national broadcast in Venezuela.

Maduro teared up as he announced the news.

The socialist leader of Venezuela was 58 years old.  Chavez succumbed to cancer after months of treatments in Cuba.  The Venezuelan president had been in power for a total of 14 years.  In Venezuela, Chavez was a hero to impoverished peasants, while his Bolivarian Revolution hectored the United States routinely.

Chavez, who had been battling cancer for two years, had not been seen in public nor heard from since undergoing surgery in Cuba on December 11th.

Maduro has accused Venezuela’s enemies and the United States for causing Chavez’s cancer.

UPDATE 1: Vice President Nicolas Maduro is taking over leadership of Hugo Chavez’s political movement, and was Chavez’s hand-picked successor.  However, the government of Venezuela is promising free and fair elections for Chavez’s replacement.

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