Hugo Chávez is dead, Venezuela reports

A long goodbye in Caracas

Guadalajara -
Venezuelan president Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías has died in Caracas after a two year bout with cancer, the government reported this afternoon.

The fiery leftist leader and impassioned critic of U.S. foreign policy had led his country since 1999, and was handily reelected last October.

In June 2011 Chávez acknowledged that he was ill with an undisclosed condition. Reports quickly surfaced that he suffered from aggressive prostate cancer which eventually spread to other organs, including his lymphatic system, colon and bones.

Chávez received virtually all of his medical care, which included multiple surgeries and repeated chemotherapy treatments, in Havana. Many predicted he wouldn't live long enough to participate in last fall's presidential election.

But he did, and the 58 year old the self-styled leader of the Bolivarian revolution appeared energetic on the campaign trail. As Venezuelans head to the polls, Chávez proves all the prophets wrong. He took 55% of the popular vote on Oct. 7, in an election where the government reported that 81% of those eligible had turned out to cast ballots.

In November the president told Venezuelans he was going to Cuba for further treatment. He did not return until several weeks ago, missing his own swearing in date for the next presidential term, which had to be extended by order of the country's supreme court. While the Caracas government released few details on his condition, some news sources reported that Chávez was comatose or brain dead.

Vice-president Nicolás Maduro made the emotional official announcement moments ago, his voice trembling and with tears in his eyes. He ended a brief press conference with "Viva Chávez, siempre!"

The government has not reported president Chávez' immediate cause of death.

A state funeral for Chávez will be held on Friday. The Venezuelan government declared seven days of national mourning.

Mexican leftist politician Marcelo Ebrard, a declared candidate for the 2018 Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) presidential nomination, promptly conveyed his sympathies through social media sites. President Enrique Peña Nieto, standard bearer of Mexico's center left Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), did likewise, followed by former National Action Party (PAN) president Felipe Calderón, who left office Dec. 1.

A brief history of Chávez' illness
Stories about Chávez' health began circulating in the fall of 2011. A primary disseminator was Roger Noriega, a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States and rabid Hugo basher. He reported that Chávez was gravely ill and had been given a "sobering diagnosis," with no more than six months to live. Noriega claimed his information was based on inside sources close to the Caracas government, who allegedly reported that Chávez would not survive until the 2012 elections. But the Venezuelan president repeatedly declared he intended to be a candidate, and was ready to mount a vigorous reelection campaign. Ultimately he did just that.

In September 2011 Noriega told U.S. officials they should prepare for a world without Hugo Chávez. Noriega wrote that "Washington policy makers appear unprepared to deal with the chaos that will ensue as the most corrupt members of the Chávez regime plot to retain power, and as the state-run economy collapses."

Noriega also claimed that his sources, as well as "privileged documents" he had seen, confirmed that Chávez had prostate cancer, and that "it had spread to his lymphatic system, colon and bones even before Chávez agreed to seek treatment."

Noriega wrote that the United States knew of Chávez' cancer six months before the Venezuelan president publicly acknowledged it in June 2011, and he accused American diplomats of "consciously averting attention from Venezuela for years, to avoid having to confront the growing threat posed by a decade of Chávez conspiring with (U.S) enemies and rivals."

Chávez' family urged him to resign but the president refused to do so, according to Noriega, who claimed that Chávez' was determined to project the image of an engaged, physically healthy leader.

In October 2011 a Venezuelan physician gave an interview to a Mexican news magazine, confirming the same dire prognosis. The doctor, who did not participate in Chávez' cancer treatment, claimed to have been one of the president's regular physicians for many years. He told the magazine that Chávez had "a pelvic tumor, a sarcoma, very aggressive, with the life expectancy being no more than two years." The doctor claimed that his information came directly from members of Chávez' immediate family. Hugo Chávez given dire prognosis by physician: pelvic sarcoma, two years left.

A few days later the doctor fled Venezuela. He told a newspaper website that he was visited by Venezuelan security agents soon after the magazine interview was published, and that they had closed down his clinic. Venezuelan doctor who suggested poor prognosis for Chávez is forced to flee. According to Noriega, the Chávez' family had asked the doctor to release the president's medical information with the hope it might persuade the president to step aside. The plan, if true, didn't work.

Noriega also has claimed that a number of Venezuela's top military brass are directly involved in narcotics trafficking, and will fight to retain power after Chávez is gone. He added this warning: "U.S. planners must be prepared to deal with the short-term impact of unrest in a country where we import about 10 percent of our oil. Washington must also develop a plan to help Venezuelans clean up the toxic waste of terrorists, narco traffickers, corruption, and Cuban agents Chávez will leave behind."

In January 2012 the Spanish newspaper ABC piled on with the same death sentence, purportedly based on a Dec. 30, 2011 medical examination of Chávez. The paper claimed that an original prostate cancer, first discovered in January 2011, had metastasized to his bones and spinal cord, and that Chávez had a tumor in his upper colon as well. Unless the president consented to further aggressive treatment - something which unidentified sources indicated he was not disposed to do - Chávez' life expectancy was no more than nine months, according to ABC. The paper also claimed that a plan to secretly fly Chávez to Moscow for advanced treatment was abandoned after he responded poorly to several rounds of chemotherapy administered in Havana. Hugo Chávez has but nine months to live, predicts Spanish newspaper ABC.

Still other stories reported great discord among the members of Chávez' Cuban medical team, and the failure by his Havana physicians to take steps which would have been considered mandatory by competent cancer specialists anywhere else. All the dire prognostications proved premature. Cuban doctors managed to keep Chávez alive much longer than many predicted - and perhaps much longer than some had hoped for.

Hugo Chavez' cancer was caused by "imperialist poisoning," alleges Bolivian president Evo Morales

Previous MGRR reports:
Venezuela faces huge homicide rate, 80% by firearms, as its president hangs by a thread in Havana
Hugo Chávez, once more to Havana
Hugo Chávez' condition in dispute after his latest cancer treatment in Cuba
Chávez returns to Cuba for more surgery
Ex-diplomat says Chávez has 6 months; warns of Venezuelan "narco-generals"
With Russian arms on the way, Hugo Chávez warns, "we're not Libya"
Hugo Chávez suffers renal failure; said to be in grave condition
Hugo Chávez returns home after latest chemotherapy - and he's full of big news
Bolivia's Eva Morales condemns United States at Havana ceremony
Rampant street crime in Venezuela

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