CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez
of Venezuela died Tuesday afternoon after a struggle with cancer, the
government announced, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the
grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he languished for
weeks, silent and out of sight, in hospitals in Havana and Caracas.
Close to tears and his voice cracking, Vice President Nicolás Maduro
said he and other officials had gone to the military hospital where Mr.
Chávez was being treated, sequestered from the public, when “we received
the hardest and most tragic information that we could transmit to our
people.”
In short order, police officers and soldiers were highly visible as
people ran through the 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.
Stores and shopping malls abruptly closed.
As darkness fell, somber crowds congregated in the main square of
Caracas and at the military hospital, with men and women crying openly
in sadness and fear about what would come next.
In one neighborhood, Chávez supporters set fire to tents and mattresses
used by university students who had chained themselves together in
protest several days earlier to demand more information about Mr.
Chávez’s condition.
“Are you happy now?” the Chávez supporters shouted as they ran through
the streets with sticks. “Chávez is dead! You got what you wanted!”
Mr. 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 United States, but also in Latin America, where Mr.
Chávez led a group of nations intent on reducing American influence in
the region.
Mr. Chávez, 58, changed Venezuela in fundamental ways, empowering and
energizing millions of poor people who had felt marginalized and
excluded, and his death
is sure to bring vast uncertainty as the nation tries to find its way
without its central figure.
“He’s the best president in history,” said Andrés Mejía, 65, a retiree
in Cumaná, an eastern city, crying as he gathered with friends in a
plaza. “Look at how emotional I am — I’m crying. I cannot accept the
president’s death. But the revolution will continue with Maduro.”
The Constitution says that, since Mr. Chávez was at the start of a term,
the nation should “proceed to a new election” within 30 days, and
Foreign Minister Elías Jaua said in a television interview that Mr.
Maduro would take the helm in the meantime. The election is likely to
pit Mr. Maduro, whom Mr. Chávez designated as his political successor,
against Henrique Capriles Radonski, a young state governor who lost to
Mr. Chávez in the presidential election in October.
But in light of Mr. Chávez’s illness, there has been heated debate in
recent months over clashing interpretations of the Constitution, and it
is impossible to predict how the transition will proceed.
“We, your civilian and military companions, Commander Hugo Chávez,
assume your legacy, your challenges, your project, accompanied by and
with the support of the people,” Mr. Maduro told the nation.
Only hours earlier, the government seemed to go into a state of
heightened alert as Mr. Maduro convened a crisis meeting in Caracas of
cabinet ministers, governors loyal to the president and top military
commanders.
Taking a page out of Mr. Chávez’s time-tested playbook, Mr. Maduro
warned in a lengthy televised speech that the United States was seeking
to destabilize the country, and the government expelled the two American
military attachés, accusing one of seeking to recruit Venezuelan
military personnel to carry out “destabilizing projects.” He called on
Venezuelans to unite as he raised the specter of foreign intervention.
During the speech, Mr. Maduro said the government suspected that the
president’s enemies had found a way to cause his cancer, a possibility
that Mr. Chávez had once raised. Mr. Maduro said scientists should
investigate the source of his illness.
Mr. Chávez long accused the United States of trying to undermine or even
assassinate him; indeed, the Bush administration gave tacit support for
a coup that briefly removed him from power in 2002. He often used
Washington as a foil to build support or distract attention from deeply
rooted problems at home, like high inflation and soaring crime.
Over nearly a decade and a half, Mr. Chávez made most major decisions
and dominated all aspects of political life. He inspired a fierce,
sometimes religious devotion among his supporters and an equally fervent
animus among his opponents. As many of his followers say, “With Chávez
everything, without Chávez nothing.”
But that leaves his revolution in a precarious spot without its charismatic leader.
Mr. Chávez’s death could provide an opportunity for the political
opposition, which was never able to defeat him in a head-to-head
contest. Mr. Capriles lost to Mr. Chávez by 11 percentage points in
October.
And Mr. Maduro is far from having Mr. Chávez’s visceral connection to
the masses of Venezuela’s poor. Even so, most analysts believe that Mr.
Maduro will have an advantage, and that he will receive a surge of
support if the vote occurs soon.
But even if Mr. Maduro prevails, he may have a hard time holding
together Mr. Chávez’s movement while fending off resistance from what is
likely to be a revived opposition.
Mr. Chávez’s new six-year term began on Jan. 10, with the president
incommunicado in Havana. In his absence, the government held a huge
rally in the center of Caracas, where thousands of his followers raised
their hands to pledge an oath of “absolute loyalty” to their commander
and his revolution. Officials promised that Mr. Chávez would have his
inauguration later, when he had recovered.
But the hoped-for recovery never came. Now, instead of an inauguration,
Mr. Chávez’s followers are left to plan a funeral.
The foreign minister, Mr. Jaua, announced that on Wednesday Mr. Chávez’s
body would be taken to the military academy in Caracas and lie in state
there.
Mr. Jaua said that the government would hold a ceremony on Friday with
visiting heads of state and that officials would announce later where
Mr. Chávez would be laid to rest.
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| Venezuelans in Caracas after President Hugo Chávez’s death was announced |
