Hugo Chavez

On Tuesday, March 5, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez died at the age of 58. This fact has put the future of the country in question.

In Tuesday’s televised address, a tearful Mr Maduro – Vice-President of Venezuela – said the president had passed away “after battling a tough illness for nearly two years”. He announced that police forces and the army would be deployed in order to “to accompany and protect our people and guarantee the peace”. This could mean the country is under martial law now, BBC reports.

Chavez has left Nicolas Maduro as his replacement, but it is clear that the opposition will demand new elections. Tension is growing within the country due to the government’s announcement that this was a plot against Venezuela.

Maduro blamed Venezuela’s “historic enemies” in the Presidents cancer illness. He also announced that two US diplomats had been expelled from the country for spying on Venezuela’s military.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegass had announced on television that Chavez was struck by a “new and acute” infection that complicated respiratory functions.

Chavez had been battling cancer since 2011. He had undergone four surgeries and a number of therapy courses.

Last Friday, Maduro announced that Chavez would be undergoing a new chemotherapy course in the Caracas Military Hospital. He added that Chavez was still able to manage the country, and he did so until the end.

Chavez, who had been in power for 14 years in Venezuela, had not been seen in public since December 11, 2012, when he underwent a surgery in Cuba.

Since then, the government published photos of the ill President only once. In those photos Chavez is seen with his two daughters in Havana’s hospital on February 15 – three days before his return to Venezuela.

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