CARACAS,Venezuela — 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.
Read more at Official Wire. By Fabiola Sanchez.
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