Nation Mourns the Socialist Leader’s Demise, Readies for Elections

DEMISE\\ President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela died after a struggle with cancer leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he languished for weeks in hospitals in Havana and Caracas. Close to tears and his voice cracking, Vice President Nicolás Maduro said he had gone to the military hospital where Chávez was being treated, when “We received the hardest and most tragic information that we could transmit to our people.” As the news of the demise spread, police and soldiers were visible as people ran through streets, calling loved ones on cellphones, rushing to get home. Caracas, the capital, which had just received news that the government was throwing out two American military attachés it accused of sowing disorder, quickly became an enormous traffic jam. Later on, somber crowds congregated in the main Caracas square and at the military hospital, with citizens crying openly. Chávez’s departure from a country he dominated for 14 years casts into doubt the future of his socialist revolution. It alters the political balance not only in Venezuela, the fourth-largest supplier of foreign oil to the US, but also in Latin America, where Chávez led a group of nations intent on reducing American influence in the region. Chávez, 58, changed Venezuela by empowering millions of poverty-ridden people who had felt marginalised. However, his rule also widened society’s divisions. The Venezuelan Constitution states that since Chávez was at the start of a term, the nation should “proceed to a new election” within 30 days. Foreign Minister Elías Jaua said that Maduro would take the helm in the meantime. The election is likely to pit Maduro, whom Chávez designated as his political successor, against Henrique Capriles Radonski, a young state governor who lost to Chávez in the presidential election in October 2012. In light of Chávez’s illness, there were debates over clashing interpretations of the Constitution. Chávez’s cancer was diagnosed in June 2011, but throughout his treatment he and his government kept many details about his illness secret. He had three operations in Cuba between June 2011 and February 2012, as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but the cancer kept coming back. Then on December 8, 2012, Chávez stunned the nation by announcing in a televised address that he needed yet more surgery. That operation, his fourth, took place in Havana on December 11, 2012. After previous operations, Chávez often appeared on television while recuperating in Havana, posted messages on Twitter or was heard on telephone calls made to television programs on a government station. But after his December operation, he was not seen again in public, and his voice fell silent.