US

Venezuela’s Controversial Leader Hugo Chavez Has Died After Battle With Cancer

Venezuelas Controversial Leader Hugo Chavez Has Died After Battle With Cancer

A man walks past a mural portraying the Venezuelan flag, President Hugo Chavez and South American liberator Simon Bolivar at the 23 de Enero neighbourhood, in Caracas on March 5, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty ImagesCARACAS

CARACAS, Venezuela (TheBlaze/AP) — 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.

During more than 14 years in office, Chavez polarized Venezuelans with his confrontational and domineering style, yet was also a masterful communicator and strategist who tapped into Venezuelan nationalism to win broad support, particularly among the poor.

As an army paratroop commander, he led a failed coup in 1992, then was pardoned and elected president in 1998. He survived a coup against his own presidency in 2002 and won re-election two more times.

Despite his controversial and questionable politics, Chavez electrified crowds with his booming voice, often wearing the bright red of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela or the fatigues and red beret of his army days. Before his struggle with cancer, he appeared on television almost daily, talking for hours at a time and often breaking into song of philosophical discourse.

Chavez used his country’s vast oil wealth to launch social programs that include state-run food markets, new public housing, free health clinics and education programs. Poverty declined during Chavez’s presidency amid a historic boom in oil earnings, but critics said he failed to use the windfall of hundreds of billions of dollars to develop the country’s economy.

Inflation soared and the homicide rate rose to among the highest in the world.

Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba in June 2011 to remove what he said was a baseball-size tumor from his pelvic region, and the cancer returned repeatedly over the next 18 months despite more surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. He kept secret key details of his illness, including the type of cancer and the precise location of the tumors.

“El Comandante,” as he was known, stayed in touch with the Venezuelan people during his treatment via Twitter and phone calls broadcast on television, but even those messages dropped off as his health deteriorated.

Two months after his last re-election in October, Chavez returned to Cuba again for cancer surgery, blowing a kiss to his country as he boarded the plane. He was never seen again in public.

After a 10-week absence marked by opposition protests over the lack of information about the president’s health and growing unease among the president’s “Chavista” supporters, the government released photographs of Chavez on Feb. 15 and three days later announced that the president had returned to Venezuela to be treated at a military hospital in Caracas.

Chavez was also inspired by ruthless Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and took on the aging revolutionary’s role as Washington’s chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere after Castro relinquished the presidency to his brother Raul in 2006.

Supporters saw Chavez as the latest in a colorful line of revolutionary legends, from Castro to the murderous Argentine-born Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Chavez nurtured that cult of personality, and even as he stayed out of sight for long stretches fighting cancer, his out-sized image appeared on buildings and billboard throughout Venezuela. The airwaves boomed with his baritone mantra: “I am a nation.” Supporters carried posters and wore masks of his eyes, chanting, “I am Chavez.”

“A revolution has arrived here,” he declared in a 2009 speech. “No one can stop this revolution.”

He ordered the sword of South American independence leader Simon Bolivar removed from Argentina’s Central Bank to unsheathe at key moments. On television, he would lambast his opponents as “oligarchs,” announce expropriations of companies and lecture Venezuelans about the glories of socialism. His performances included renditions of folk songs and impromptu odes to Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong and 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Chavez carried his in-your-face style to the world stage as well. In a 2006 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he called President George W. Bush the devil, saying the podium reeked of sulfur after Bush’s address.

Critics saw Chavez as a typical Latin American caudillo, a strongman who ruled through force of personality and showed disdain for democratic rules. Chavez concentrated power in his hands with allies who dominated the congress and justices who controlled the Supreme Court.

He insisted all the while that Venezuela remained a vibrant democracy and denied trying to restrict free speech. But some of his opponents faced criminal charges and were driven into exile.

While Chavez trumpeted plans for communes and an egalitarian society, his soaring rhetoric regularly conflicted with reality. Despite government seizures of companies and farmland, the balance between Venezuela’s public and private sectors changed little during his presidency.

And even as the poor saw their incomes rise, those gains were blunted while the country’s currency weakened amid economic controls.

Nonetheless, Chavez somehow maintained a core of supporters who stayed loyal to their “comandante” until the end.

“Chavez masterfully exploits the disenchantment of people who feel excluded … and he feeds on controversy whenever he can,” Cristina Marcano and Alberto Barrera Tyszka wrote in their book “Hugo Chavez: The Definitive Biography of Venezuela’s Controversial President.”

Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias was born on July 28, 1954, in the rural town of Sabaneta in Venezuela’s western plains. He was the son of schoolteacher parents and the second of six brothers.

Chavez burst into public view in 1992 as a paratroop commander leading a military rebellion that brought tanks to the presidential palace. When the coup collapsed, Chavez was allowed to make a televised statement in which he declared that his movement had failed “for now.” The speech, and those two defiant words, launched his career, searing his image into the memory of Venezuelans.

Venezuelas Controversial Leader Hugo Chavez Has Died After Battle With Cancer

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

He and other coup prisoners were released in 1994, and President Rafael Caldera dropped the charges against them.

Chavez then organized a new political party and ran for president four years later, vowing to shatter Venezuela’s traditional two-party system. At age 44, he became the country’s youngest president in four decades of democracy with 56 percent of the vote.

Chavez was re-elected in 2000 in an election called under a new constitution drafted by his allies. His increasingly confrontational style and close ties to Cuba, however, disenchanted many of the middle-class supporters who had voted for him. The next several years saw bold but failed attempts by opponents to dislodge him from power.

In 2002, he survived a short-lived coup, which began after a large anti-Chavez street protest ended in deadly shootings. Dissident military officers detained the president and announced he had resigned. But within two days, he returned to power with the help of military loyalists while his supporters rallied in the streets.

Chavez emerged a stronger president. He defeated a subsequent opposition-led strike that paralyzed the country’s oil industry, and he fired thousands of state oil company employees.

The coup also turned Chavez more decidedly against the U.S. government, which had swiftly recognized the provisional leader who had briefly replaced him. He created political and trade alliances that excluded the U.S., and he cozied up to Iran and Syria in large part, it seemed, due to their shared antagonism toward the U.S. government.

Despite the souring relationship, Chavez sold the bulk of Venezuela’s oil to the United States.

He easily won re-election in 2006, and then said it was his destiny to lead Venezuela until 2021 or even 2031.

“I’m still a subversive,” Chavez said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. “I think the entire world has to be subverted.”

Playing such a larger-than-life public figure ultimately left little time for a personal life.

His second marriage, to journalist Marisabel Rodriguez, deteriorated in the early years of his presidency, and they divorced in 2004. In addition to their one daughter, Rosines, Chavez had three children from his first marriage, which ended before Chavez ran for office.

Chavez acknowledged after he was diagnosed with cancer that he had been recklessly neglecting his health. He had taken to staying up late and drinking as many as 40 cups of coffee a day. He regularly summoned his Cabinet ministers to the presidential palace late at night.

He often said he believed Venezuela was on its way down a long road toward socialism, and that there was no turning back. After winning re-election in 2012, he vowed to deepen his push to transform Venezuela.

His political movement, however, was mostly a one-man show. Only three days before his final surgery, Chavez named Maduro as his chosen successor.

This story has been updated. Featured image via AFP/Getty.

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Comments (331)

  • GoodStuff
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:13pm

    “Venezuela’s Controversial Leader”

    Really Blaze? Controversial Leader? You don’t have the balls to call him dictator??

    Report this comment

    GoodStuff  
    • FISH_BONE
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:22pm

      Venezuela has lost their POS dictator to cancer. Am I ever jealous. Hopefully we can soon be as lucky as the Venezuela people.

      Report this comment

      FISH_BONE  
    • redfish52
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:24pm

      I feel really bad for Sean Penn…..not…..hee….hee.

      Report this comment

      redfish52  
    • VRW Conspirator
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:26pm

      the story was written by the AP….check out the first byline….Caracas, Venezula (AP)

      Report this comment

      VRW Conspirator  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:30pm

      When news reaches Castro it might be enough for a heart attack….

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:34pm

      Invest in computer keyboards !!!

      Trolls around the World are crying in theirs right now….

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
    • FOREIGNANDDOMESTIC
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:37pm

      This article makes me want to retch. It is an ode to Chavez, dictator, liar, murderer, torturer, and the *** who destroyed Venezuela and exported communism throughout Latin America.

      AP, you are a bunch of pukes. Shame on you, Blaze, for not editing this article. All you do of late is C&P what AP, a leftist media outlet, reports.

      And BTW, this son of Satan, who died thinking his state Catholic sellouts and their socialist jesus would save him, died sometime in December, according to trustworthy sources. He died in Cuba, and should have been buried there next to Castro.

      When’s Obama’s Day of Reckoning, Lord??

      Report this comment

      FOREIGNANDDOMESTIC  
    • joey g
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:44pm

      oh happy day ….

      Report this comment

      joey g  
    • FOREIGNANDDOMESTIC
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:44pm

      @GOODSTUFF
      Chavez was never sworn in after the last bogus election. So his VP is no VP. But don’t let the truth get in the way, AP.

      Make us glad, Lord.

      Report this comment

      FOREIGNANDDOMESTIC  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:47pm

      OOOOpah

      Report this comment

      13th Imam  
    • TEXASGRANNY73
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:48pm

      Boo Hoo! Boo Hoo!

      Report this comment

      TEXASGRANNY73  
    • User1
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:49pm

      Maybe Sean Penn will exit this life from his deep grief. Alternately…maybe he sees his opening to become the new El Jefe. He could create a true socialist paradise where all the liberal wankers can flee to escape their horrors in America. I’d donate to the first charter flight….

      Report this comment

      User1  
    • RabidPatriot
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:53pm

      I wonder how that sulfur is smelling know? President Bush is trying to not crack a smile and President Obama is mourning the loss of a fallen comrade.

      Report this comment

      RabidPatriot  
    • MrButcher
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:55pm

      Hugo dies 60 years to the day of the death of Stalin 5 March 1953.

      Neat historical irony.

      Report this comment

      MrButcher  
    • Mil-Dot
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:58pm

      Our CIA was behind smoking this heathen. Make no mistake. They do it by learning all they can about him. What luxuries he partakes of, what items he likes to surround himself with. Then, they insert themselves into the supply chain and lace the items with a type of radioactive isotope, something like Polonium 210 or some other heavy by-product of fission. He sits there, exposed to the radiation for days, weeks, months, years. This is how the CIA got to him. Pretty clever. They are the best of the best. Even the Russians said so.

      Report this comment

      Mil-Dot  
    • rlimike
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:59pm

      Right on FISH_Bone … right on.

      Report this comment

      rlimike  
    • banjarmon
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:59pm

      Will BHO attend the funeral as head of state, or will he send hillary…biden… or holder…maybe big sis!!!

      Report this comment

      banjarmon  
    • Miami
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:02pm

      Hollywood has lost a god

      I can only hope to see Castro go next, Moore might forget to eat

      Report this comment

      Miami  
    • DLV
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:05pm

      Mr. Butcher- Ironic indeed :0. Who is next?

      Report this comment

      DLV  
    • pissantno.10
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:06pm

      one bad deal about this for the green wenies, is when he went to the land down below he created a bit of global warming poof

      Report this comment

      pissantno.10  
    • ALL4FREEDOM
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:32pm

      Fish_bone: why wait for divine intervention? Check out the Romanian solution to Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. The Wikipedeia description will do fine. Best Christmas ever in Romania!

      Report this comment

      ALL4FREEDOM  
    • wzanesdad
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:33pm

      Thank God !!!!! I was starting to think this son of satan was imortal. Now…..if only the venezualan people have the good sense to take advantage of this.

      Report this comment

      wzanesdad  
    • Waydah
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:38pm

      Adios! Have a nice trip. Hopefully we will be as fortunate.

      Report this comment

      Waydah  
    • Jim in Houston
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:48pm

      The devil is ecstatic, he has a new playmate.

      Report this comment

      Jim in Houston  
    • chattin
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:51pm

      Ha! I was wondering the same thing about smelling sulphur.

      Report this comment

      chattin  
    • GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:58pm

      My theory: Chavéz’s been dead for a while…they just revealed it today because is the same day Stalin died 60 years ago……March 5th 1953……how convenient, doesn’t it?

      Report this comment

      GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas  
    • turkey13
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:53pm

      Old Hugo is one of those great leaders that when all the votes were counted, it came up tp 100%. There will be dancing in the streets in Venezuea tonight, like it was in Germany when the word got out that Adolf was dead. I got my pendulum out and did a little dowsing and guess what – we will lose Hillery, Biden and Penn to Cancer this year. On dowsing I have always been right. I thought I was wrong on my 5th grand baby who was to be the 5th male and was a grand daughter instead. I later found out my daughter’s first pregancy thay ended in a misscarrage was a boy and I didn’t go any further on the lineage.

      Report this comment

      turkey13  
    • Wolfgang the Gray
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 8:10pm

      Guess it isn’t only the good that die young. Sometimes a POS two-bit dictator kicks the bucket early too.

      List of mourners that has lost a friend and mentor:
      Sean Penn, Danny GLover, Kevin Spacey, Oliver Stone, Naomi Campbell, Susan Sarandon, Courtney Love, Harry Belafonte, & Barack Obama.

      List of those that celebrate the passing of a tyrant:
      Everyone that loves freedom & liberty.

      Hey Hugo, say Hi to Adolf, Joseph, & Mao.

      Report this comment

      Wolfgang the Gray  
    • The Jewish Avenger
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:07pm

      bu-bye…

      Don’t let the pearly gates hit you in the arse on your way out of the judgement room…

      Report this comment

      The Jewish Avenger  
    • WarMunger_Al
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:11pm

      good riddance.

      Report this comment

      WarMunger_Al  
    • Obama_In_PeePee_By_Zee_ArTeest_Beck
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 11:53pm

      “Venezuela’s Controversial Leader Hugo Chavez Has Died After Battle With Cancer”

      CONTROVERSIAL?!? WTF?!? (that’s Where’s The Fun?) That’s some article you’ve posted, TheBlaze. It reads like how MSNBC makes Obama look …

      WAY too many illegal-alien wètbacks in America. They are south american slime and want to bring their commie crap to our shores — welcomed with open arms by marxist Barack Hussein Obama and Progressive-communist Washington DC:

      “MARXIST OBAMA STINKS All The Way To CHAVEZ’s SOCIALIST VENEZUELA !! A Rush Limbaugh TEACHABLE MOMENT”
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd_L45CZWAQ

      Report this comment

      Obama_In_PeePee_By_Zee_ArTeest_Beck  
    • ITGuy
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:22am

      Asta lavista booby.

      Hey Bama, I hear a position for dictator has opened up in a quaint little third world starter country. It doesn’t come with as much worldly notoriety but it pays as much as you want and you can actually force people to do what you say.

      Report this comment

      ITGuy  
    • RIDEMODELS
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 2:56am

      Pig……Dead….Yay….who’s next??

      Report this comment

      RIDEMODELS  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 10:27am

      BAD-BY TO HUGO….and may the GATES OF HELL hit y’o inda azz!!

      Report this comment

      G-WHIZ  
  • thegoldman
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:13pm

    All right !

    Castro is next…

    Report this comment

    thegoldman  
    • escape_from_socialism
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:23pm

      Castro next, then the one, name should not be spoken.
      All communist are sub-humans. Either they so dumb, or they just out plain criminals.

      Report this comment

      escape_from_socialism  
    • moonlight on the bay
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:30pm

      We can only hope . . . .

      Report this comment

      moonlight on the bay  
    • FOREIGNANDDOMESTIC
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:53pm

      Wow, how can you be so gullible? Castro died years ago of stomach cancer. The man you see in photos every now and then is a look-alike. Chavez’ minions tried to pull a similar one, but Venezuela is not a tiny island in the Caribbean.

      Someone else on your wish list, by any chance??

      Report this comment

      FOREIGNANDDOMESTIC  
    • Miami
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:07pm

      From your finger tips to the Lord eyes

      Report this comment

      Miami  
    • USALOVER2011
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 8:14pm

      One less dictator….he won’t be missed!!!!

      Next???….how about mahmoud ahmadinejad….kim jong un!

      Report this comment

      USALOVER2011  
  • BlackCrow
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:12pm

    Good place for Communists…dead.

    Report this comment

    BlackCrow  
    • Mil-Dot
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:03pm

      Right on Black. The only good commie is a dead commie.

      Report this comment

      Mil-Dot  
    • dynaboy
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:22pm

      Kill a commie for mommy

      Report this comment

      dynaboy  
    • Fubared
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:33pm

      Jose Serrano, D. NY, was first to come out with praise for the dictator. Way to go NY, 1st again for praise on a tyrant. Makes so much sense huh?

      Report this comment

      Fubared  
  • ChangeAll
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:12pm

    Karma!!!

    Report this comment

    ChangeAll  
    • TEXASGRANNY73
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:50pm

      Yep. A price for everything. Goes around, comes around.

      Report this comment

      TEXASGRANNY73  
    • RIDEMODELS
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 2:59am

      First he took their Guns…..Next he took their food….While the pretty ones danced for his amusement…..He will ROT for sure….Put on display for the poor and homeless and hungry to pee on.

      Report this comment

      RIDEMODELS  
  • 4xeverything
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:12pm

    It’s a holiday!!! Ding dong the b@stards dead!!!

    Report this comment

    4xeverything  
  • SCREW-WINDOWS
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:11pm

    Another conquest for are supreme dictator.

    Report this comment

    SCREW-WINDOWS  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:10pm

    .
    I guess that free Cuban health care was not all it was cracked up to be…..LMAO…..

    Hugo just showed us our fate under ObamaCare…..

    Report this comment

    SpankDaMonkey  
  • ChangeAll
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:10pm

    It’s enough to have him gone…no need to “p…” on him.

    Report this comment

    ChangeAll  
    • Mil-Dot
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:08pm

      I agree. It is in the Bible somewhere where it states that “you should not rejoice over the passing of your enemies” (para). It is unprofessional and child-like to do so. Just take it for what it is and be adults about it. We have all done bad things. No need to crap on his face. He will answer for his deeds as will we all.

      Report this comment

      Mil-Dot  
    • hatchetjob
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:11pm

      I’m dropping trou on him right now, and it ain’t to p*ss.

      Report this comment

      hatchetjob  
    • TEXASGRANNY73
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:11pm

      Why not? Dance, then? Spit? Sing in the streets? Cry? Boo Hoo. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, just another feet of clay didn’t stop the world from revolving or rooster from crowing. And guaranteed every dictator pays sooner or later. Why not celebrate?

      Report this comment

      TEXASGRANNY73  
    • TEXASGRANNY73
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:32pm

      @Mil-dot But, indeed, we are all human but not so many dictators, hmm? Funny thing. I’m a thinking about how God took out Ramses and I’m a thinking He is not too bothered about small me celebrating Him not stopping this one. Hasta la Vista, Baby. And yeah, I have an attitude, sure do. I just hate miserable mean people who force their beliefs on others. Quit worrying about the rest of us. Do your own thing.

      Report this comment

      TEXASGRANNY73  
    • circleDwagons
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 9:44pm

      Mil-Dot. We can smile and give thanks to God. I am however sadden for the people and pray that they have not been too brain washed to throw off their chains.

      Report this comment

      circleDwagons  
  • My Two Cents
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:10pm

    Two thumbs up!

    Report this comment

    My Two Cents  
  • gauge
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:08pm

    Yay!!!!! Best news I’ve had all day!!!
    Now if all the other dictators in the would would just meet the same fate….

    Report this comment

    gauge  
    • DIR
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 12:13am

      Look, It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. He’s probably roasting his spiritual chestnuts on an open fire right now. When it comes Sean Penn’s time, old ‘Randy’ Chavez will be there to greet him.

      Report this comment

      DIR  
  • dublinthewagons
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:08pm

    I can not attend the funeral. However I will send a nice letter to the family, stating ” I APPROVE ‘

    Report this comment

    dublinthewagons  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:08pm

    .
    I thought it felt like there was more clean air to breath…..

    Party at my house…..

    Report this comment

    SpankDaMonkey  
  • Just_Us2
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:07pm

    Prediction -Socialism will continue to thrive. Government will continue to nationalize the country. The moochers outnumber the producers.

    Hugo is now dealing with his a new administration where his methods are frowned upon.

    Report this comment

    Just_Us2  
  • clearview
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:06pm

    HI HO THE WITCH IS DEAD! WHICH OL’ WITCH? THE CHAVEZ WITCH. HI HO THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD. SING IT HIGH AND SING IT LOW

    Oh dear, Sean Penn’s hero bit the dust!

    Report this comment

    clearview  
  • The-Monk
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:06pm

    The Blaze trolls will all be in tears…..

    Report this comment

    The-Monk  
    • CatB
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:14pm

      I like the headline on Drudge .. a photo of a bald Chavez and two words … Bye Bye … ;-)

      Report this comment

      CatB  
    • OldSurfRat
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:15pm

      Monk

      You know Hugo be the man. Why you be disrespecting him like dat. Damn white M-F

      My best samuel l jackson impersonation

      Report this comment

      OldSurfRat  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:18pm

      Inconsolable MONK….

      Report this comment

      AvengerK  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:23pm

      I hope the team that will be investigating who gave him cancer will find the current WH guilty.

      Then the UN can hold a trial and put them in jail…..

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
    • Eastinfection
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:28pm

      “Chavez underwent surgery… to remove a baseball-size tumor from his pelvic region…. He kept secret … the precise location of the tumors.”

      Is that a baseball sized tumor in your pocket or are you just glad to see me, Hugo?

      Report this comment

      Eastinfection  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:33pm

      Hi MONK, LOL! I would like to attend the funeral an pour a fine bottle of rum on his grave. Naturally I would prefer to filter it through my kidneys first.

      Report this comment

      RJJinGadsden  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:36pm

      EAST, LOL, you have my side splitting right now. I was making a similar joke with my son.

      Report this comment

      RJJinGadsden  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:42pm

      Anyone want to take bets on how long it will be before some Democrat Congressperson submits a Bill to make today a US National Day of Mourning?

      Report this comment

      The-Monk  
    • dublinthewagons
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:43pm

      He goes to prepare a place for BARRY.

      Report this comment

      dublinthewagons  
    • OldSurfRat
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:45pm

      Man I sure feel like the odd man out with my avatar (:

      Report this comment

      OldSurfRat  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:53pm

      Whoa, whoa MONK, you mean that Lurch has not already been demanding that?

      Report this comment

      RJJinGadsden  
    • Eastinfection
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:53pm

      MONK, RJJ, SURF….

      check this out!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7kbR5H00as

      Report this comment

      Eastinfection  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:56pm

      OLDSURFRAT, Hey man, you gotta admit that avatar is perfect for the **** of a number of jokes on this story. But, we know that you used a lot of sarcasm to come up with that anyway.

      Report this comment

      RJJinGadsden  
    • OldSurfRat
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:06pm

      East

      That was great!!!
      You know the guy doing Robertson sounded suspiciously like Bill Clinton.

      Report this comment

      OldSurfRat  
    • OldSurfRat
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:08pm

      RJJ

      LOL!!!
      Ya gotta love it.
      It does one good to look like a fool sometimes (:

      Report this comment

      OldSurfRat  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:08pm

      EAST, bwahahahahahahaha! Hugo muerto. What was that line in the movie? Hi Mickey!

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      RJJinGadsden  
    • Zipit
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:24pm

      Speakin of Lurch! Did you guys check out Kerry on TV today!!! That dude looks like death warmed over! My God……

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      Zipit  
    • YUOR SENSIE
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:27pm

      This is what you must know:

      Goodbye Hugo my love, we all know George Bush gave you this cancer. I will see you in the afterlife where Karl, Che and Joseph rest, I hear it is hot year round.

      It is so.

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      YUOR SENSIE  
    • Fubared
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 7:17pm

      Sensie
      Well said, keep it up.

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      Fubared  
  • MRARGUELLES267
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:05pm

    Kind of scary to hear people dying. But hopefully this will help Venezuela.

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    MRARGUELLES267  
    • MDECKER
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:16pm

      This thing was neither human nor humane. Our President, has lost a very close friend and mentor however. We should therefore, have a micro-second of silence.

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      MDECKER  
  • OldSurfRat
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:04pm

    Yea baby!!
    Hugo is dead. Why cant we be so lucky here in our country?

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    OldSurfRat  
    • DEFCON4
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:27pm

      I agree, Surf…..Good Riddance.

      Chavez loved the ‘poor’ so much, he made millions more !

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      DEFCON4  
    • RIDEMODELS
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 3:01am

      Lets not Forget…Obumble wants that Oil…..Lets not forget.

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      RIDEMODELS  
  • Oath-keeper
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:04pm

    Awesome about time waste of space.

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    Oath-keeper  
  • DLV
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:04pm

    Wow I can’t believe it. This doesn’t seem right because as far as I know he was in fairly good health. I wonder if he was assassinated….?

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    DLV  
    • DLV
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:10pm

      Never mind I didn’t know he was battling cancer. Good to know anyway.

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      DLV  
    • Eastinfection
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:23pm

      Avez-vous passé votre test ?

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      Eastinfection  
    • DLV
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:04pm

      East- J’ai bien fait je pense. :D. To be fair, I’m not great at French. I’m a history major and I also have a historiography mid term tomorrow, Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, Livy, Sallust, St. Augustine for Christian historians and several others. Love the class though, my professor is brilliant especially since there are only six of us in the class, it’s close knit.

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      DLV  
    • Eastinfection
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:25pm

      Tres bien! félicitations!

      Another test tomorrow?
      i sure don’t miss those days. lol.. good luck.

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      Eastinfection  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:03pm

    Sean Penn can preach the funeral…

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    Baddoggy  
    • Cavallo
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:07pm

      Belafonte can sing at it. Maybe a meteor will hit and they can all rot together.

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      Cavallo  
    • chips1
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:08pm

      If the wooden box is large enough, double occupancy?

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      chips1  
    • biohazard23
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:12pm

      Don’t forget to add Danny Glover to the party list.

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    • OldSurfRat
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:28pm

      Baddoggy

      You called?
      Oh wait thats just my avatar. Never mind.

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      OldSurfRat  
    • RIDEMODELS
      Posted on March 6, 2013 at 3:13am

      oldsurfrat….That is a slam to all us real surf rats.

      Sean Penn is no American and he probably never surfed either.

      I wish all these Libs would leave America since they hate us and our Constitution so much. The only movies that are worth a crap are Iron man and other super heros….

      Report this comment

      RIDEMODELS  
  • NickPhree
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:03pm

    not surprised at all

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    NickPhree  
  • AvengerK
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:03pm

    Sean Penn must be devastated right now.

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    AvengerK  
    • RJJinGadsden
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:08pm

      AVENGERK, That is what I was thinking. Probably in tears and ready to make a press release kissing Hugo’s ass once again.

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      RJJinGadsden  
    • CatB
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:12pm

      Good!

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      CatB  
    • AvengerK
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:13pm

      RJJING…how do you think Michael’s Moore’s recommendation of Cuban medicine is going to go now?

      Report this comment

      AvengerK  
    • firman
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:14pm

      Maybe they’ll bury in him upside down….just in case Sean wants to stop over for a cold one.

      Report this comment

      firman  
    • OldSurfRat
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:31pm

      Avenerk
      Hey??
      Oh forget it.

      Report this comment

      OldSurfRat  
    • FEARLESSLEADER
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:36pm

      If you think Sean Penn is devestated, Obama has to find a new book club of the month BFF for starters… I was just talking to Howard Dean and the word on the street… Barry and Hugo are ( oops were) sooo tight that Barry wanted Hugo for his VP slot in the 2016 election. Joe Biden turned the VP slot for 2016 down because after 8 years as VP he feels he honed his skills and is ready for the comedy circuit…

      Report this comment

      FEARLESSLEADER  
  • tonypro
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:02pm

    YAYYYYYYYY !!!!!!!!!!!

    good for him

    Report this comment

     
  • VotersOfNY
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:02pm

    Too bad. I was hoping he would suffer for years. Now I can go out and party tonite. I’d like to piss on his grave, but I hate standing in very long lines. Burn in hell Chavez, you piece of sh$t.

    Report this comment

    VotersOfNY  
  • Cavallo
    Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:02pm

    Good, Burn in Hell.

    Report this comment

    Cavallo  
    • Magyar
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:13pm

      There’s no question in my mind that he IS in hell for all eternity— suffer for all time!

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      Magyar  
    • AVATARBABY
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:19pm

      Remember when, at the U.N., Hugo referred to Bush as “El Diablo”. Hugo is now getting ****-reamed by the real El Diablo.

      Report this comment

      AVATARBABY  
    • chips1
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 5:23pm

      He got his wish. He smells sulfur for eternity.

      Report this comment

      chips1  
    • Smokey_Bojangles
      Posted on March 5, 2013 at 6:10pm

      Obama is probably going to have us all fly the flag at half mast.

      Report this comment

      Smokey_Bojangles  

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