On 5 March 2013, Vice President Nicolás Maduro announced on state television that Chávez had died in a military hospital in Caracas at 16:25 VET (20:55 UTC). The Vice President said Chávez died "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years."
According to the head of Venezuela's presidential guard, Chávez died from a massive heart attack, and his cancer was very advanced when he died. Gen. Jose Ornella said that near the end of his life Chávez could not speak aloud, but mouthed his last words: "Yo no quiero morir, por favor no me dejen morir" (I don't want to die. Please don't let me die). Chávez is survived by four children and four grandchildren.
Suggestions of American foul play, implying that Chávez had been poisoned or somehow infected with cancer (arguing a plot reminiscent to the Yasser Arafat death controversy and the attempts against Fidel Castro), were strongly denied by the U.S. Department of State as "absurd".
His death triggered a constitutional requirement that a presidential election be called within 30 days. Chavez's Vice President, Maduro, was elected president on April 14, 2013.
THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 3 years and TBT Blog remembers him.
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