Venezuela

The announcement Tuesday that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez had died from an undisclosed form of cancer came as no surprise. The ailing 58-year-old leader hadn't been seen or heard from since Dec. 11, when he traveled to Cuba to undergo his fourth surgery. His predawn return to Venezuela last month led many observers to believe that Chavez was near death. What is a bit disturbing is that Vice President Nicolas Maduro chose to announce Chavez's death while also suggesting that the Venezuelan leader's cancer was induced by enemies of the state, who may have poisoned the president, according to El Universal, a daily newspaper in Caracas.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Subway commuters cried on their trains. Drivers blasted their horns in grief. The government called for seven days of national mourning. Meanwhile, other residents of the Venezuelan capital jammed into Plaza Bolivar and asked that President Hugo Chavez's body be brought to them there, in the colonial heart of the country he had transformed - for better or worse - with his outsized personality and unique brand of pan-Latin petro-socialism. " Chavez vive !"

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the charismatic socialist whose Bolivarian Revolution reduced poverty and galvanized anti-American sentiment across Latin America but left his nation deeply polarized and ever more dependent on oil dollars, died Tuesday in Caracas after a nearly-two-year battle with cancer. He was 58. Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the passing on national television, saying that Chavez had died at 4:25 p.m. His death followed repeated treatments for pelvic cancer in Cuba, the country of his idol Fidel Castro, where his condition was first diagnosed in June 2011.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- In a move that heightened tensions surrounding the health of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez, his vice president on Tuesday expelled the U.S. Embassy's military attache, accusing him of "proposing destabilizing plans" to members of Venezuelan armed forces. Speaking at the Miraflores presidential palace after conferring with Cabinet ministers, 20 state governors and the military chiefs of staff, Vice President Nicolas Maduro accused attache David del Monaco of "illegal activity that mocks international conventions.

CARACAS, Venezuela - In communist Cuba, people remember how painful it was to lose the patronage of the former Soviet Union, their longtime sugar daddy. They certainly don't want to lose another one. But that's the fear now gripping the island, as Cubans ponder the fate of Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's left-wing president, who recently underwent cancer surgery in Havana. Now back in a hospital in Venezuela, Chavez is reported to be undergoing a new and "difficult" round of chemotherapy, his condition a closely guarded secret.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been out of public view since his December surgery for cancer, is undergoing another round of chemotherapy in a bid to stop the spread of the disease, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said. Speaking at a Mass at the military hospital where Chavez was admitted Feb. 18, Maduro said late Friday that the treatments would be "difficult. " "But he has a strength superior to the treatments that he is receiving, and he is in a good state of mind," Maduro said.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Ending a 10-week absence from Venezuela for cancer treatment, President Hugo Chavez finally returned from Cuba early Monday morning as the government planned welcoming celebrations in several cities. Official word of his return to Caracas, the capital, came over Chavez's Twitter account at 4 a.m., shortly after he had arrived and was admitted to the San Martin military hospital in the western part of the city. No photographs of Chavez were released. The messages were the first to come over his Twitter account since November.

President Hugo Chavez returned to Venezuela from Cuba today to continue treatment for cancer less than a week after the government released the first photos of him since December. Chavez thanked his doctors, Cuban President Raul Castro and his brother Fidel and God, according to his official Twitter account. He landed in Venezuela at 2:30 a.m. local time and went to the Carlos Arvelo military hospital, Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, said on his Twitter account.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez's return to Venezuela after cancer treatment in Cuba answered questions about whether he was still alive and triggered impassioned rallies among his supporters. But continued concern for his health and decisions made during his 10-week absence may only increase pressure for new elections to choose a successor. Among the political factors at work, analysts said Monday, is the 46% devaluation of Venezuela's currency ordered this month by Chavez's designated political heir, Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela released its first photos of President Hugo Chavez recovering from a December surgery on Friday, showing the ailing leader lying down with his head propped up on a pillow, two of his daughters at his sides. State television displayed the images after a statement read by Information Minister Ernesto Villegas, which said Chavez was conscious and had his “intellectual functions” intact after two months of “a complicated post-operative process.” In two photos, Chavez is shown holding the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma, as his daughters Rosa and Maria lean in alongside him. His son-in-law, science minister Jorge Arreaza, said on television that the photos were taken Thursday night.