HUGO CHAVEZ DIES OF CANCER!
Venezuela’s vice president announced that President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday, ending 14 years of rule by the firebrand socialist but leaving his party firmly in control of the nation.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that Chavez died “after battling a tough illness for nearly two years.”
The death apparently sets up a presidential election to replace Chavez, whose illness prevented him from taking the oath of office for the term to which he was re-elected last year.
Under the constitution, the head of Congress, Diosdado Cabello, would assume the interim presidency.
The announcement came just hours after Maduro announced the government had expelled two U.S. diplomats from the country.
Maduro also said “we have no doubt” that Chavez’s cancer, which was first diagnosed in June 2011, was induced by foul play by “the historical enemies of our homeland.”
He compared the situation to the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, claiming Arafat was “inoculated with an illness.”
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Chavez’s inner circle has long claimed the United States was behind a failed 2002 attempt to overthrow him, and he has frequently played the anti-American card to stir up support. Venezuela has been without a U.S. ambassador since July 2010. (more…)
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez reached for what he considered the ultimate insult when he called Colombia “the new Israel.” If by that he means a country better governed than its immediate neighbors, that dares to protect itself against terrorists across its border despite getting bludgeoned for it by the international left – he had a point.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says he will ask the International Criminal Court to bring charges against President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
Leftists often use other countries as examples of things that we should do. Other nations have a government-run medical system; so we should have one, too, they say. If other countries control prices, then we should, too.
