Hugo Chávez dies after battle with cancer

Hugo Chávez (1954 — 2013) during The 5th Summit of the Americas 2009 held in T&T

Trinicenter Reporters
March 05, 2013

Vice President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro announced on Venezuela's television that Hugo Chávez passed away on Tuesday afternoon at around 4:25 p.m. after a two year battle with cancer. He was 58.

Since coming into power 14 years ago, Chávez embarked on a socialistic revolution that saw sweeping changes across Venezuela.

Riding on a wave of popularity from the poorer sections of Venezuelan society, from his inception Chávez quickly moved to challenge U.S. hegemony in the region, criticizing US imperialism, forging a close relationship with Fidel Castro and Cuba and inspiring a leftist movement across Latin American.

Domestically, he challenged the oil rich barons and elites who long dominated the political regimes in Venezuela as he redistributed land to the landless poor.

For his valiant efforts to redress the economic and social imbalances in the face of constant pressure to undermine the socialist revolution from both within and outside Venezuela, we at Trinicenter.com will remember him always.

Related:

• Hugo Chávez dies after battle with cancer
  Vice President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro announced on Venezuela's television that Hugo Chávez passed away on Tuesday afternoon at around 4:25 p.m. after a two year battle with cancer. He was 58.

• President Hugo Chávez has Died
  After two years of battling cancer, President Hugo Chávez has died today at 4.25 pm.

• On the Legacy of Hugo Chávez
  By Greg Grandin - March 05, 2013
  I first met Hugo Chávez in New York City in September 2006, just after his infamous appearance on the floor of the UN General Assembly, where he called George W. Bush the devil. "Yesterday, the devil came here," he said, "Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of." He then made the sign of the cross, kissed his hand, winked at his audience and looked to the sky. It was vintage Chávez, an outrageous remark leavened with just the right touch of detail (the lingering sulfur!) to make it something more than bombast, cutting through soporific nostrums of diplomatese and drawing fire away from Iran, which was in the cross hairs at that meeting.

• US Embassy Officials Expelled from Venezuela, Government Warns of "Conspiracy Plans"
  Vice-president Nicolas Maduro today denounced destabilisation plans by the international and Venezuelan right wing, announcing the expulsion of two US officials for threatening military security. He also implied that Chávez's cancer was "caused by enemies of Venezuela".

March 06, 2013

• Chávez and the Dream for a Better World
  Michael Fox - March 6, 2013
  The news poured down like a hard Venezuelan rain—Hugo Chávez had passed. After a two-year-long battle with cancer, we should have been prepared. But we weren’t. Like a surreal dream we read the reports from afar. We fielded media calls, listened to Ali Primera, and dialed distant friends, searching for familiar voices; grasping for something elusive that was slipping through our fingers.

• 'More Alive Than Ever': World Reacts to Loss of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez
  Following the death of Hugo Chávez Frías on Tuesday, world leaders and supporters of the Venezuelan leftist leader were sharing their condolences and commenting on the legacy left on his country, Latin America, and the world.

Share your views here...