chavez venezuela

President Hugo Chavez, the fiery populist who declared a socialist revolution in Venezuela, crusaded against U.S. influence and championed a leftist revival across Latin America, died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. Vice President Nicolas Maduro, surrounded by other government officials, announced the death in a national television broadcast. He said Chavez died at 4:25 p.m. local time.
Time will guide what happens next, but for now Hugo Chavez's impending demise is a political tsunami that will lap the shores of almost every country in the region. It will effectively signal the end of an era. The question remains, "To whom will South America belong after Chavez?"