Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died
Tuesday afternoon, succumbing to a long battle with cancer and bringing
to a close a tumultuous political career that reshaped Latin American
politics. Speaking through tears, Chavez's hand-picked heir,
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, announced the news on state television.
There is no doubt that Hugo epitomized the essence of charisma. He was a leader loved by everyone in Venezuela. It is no doubt however, that he was highly detested by the US due to his socialist stance and his anti imperialism belief. He mobilized the working class of Venezuela and led a leftist socialist revolution that he termed as the Bolivarian Revolution after the revolutionary leader of Venezuela and Latin America Simon Bolivar.
Reading from various Western media, it is evident that Hugo Chavez was their greatest enemy. There are unverified reports that his cancer was actually injected to him by the West. Today, we mourn the death of a man who defied all odds to emancipate his people, to defy Western imperialism and renounce Western ideals that are seen as absolute and final. A country is as successful as its people's happiness and not judged by Western standards. The Time Magazine describe him as the dogmatic and authoritarian 21st century demagogue and compares him to Fidel Castro, whom they also describe as "Cuba’s former dictator". Chavez despised and mocked the capitalist model and saw it as an evil system that rides on the back of the poor and creates enormous levels of inequality. There is little debate on that.
Fare the well, Hugo.
