委内瑞拉总统查韦斯病逝

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has died after a long struggle with cancer. He was 58 years old.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the death on national television Tuesday. He urged the Venezuelan people to show strength and courage, and to be united and fulfill the expectations of the man he called "this great leader."

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua has declared seven days of national mourning. He says says Mr. Chavez will lie in state at a military academy before a funeral Friday.

President Chavez had been treated in Cuba for cancer before returning to Caracas last month. Officials say he came down with a severe infection after strong chemotherapy in a Caracas military hospital.

Mr. Chavez had cancer in his pelvis. He had not been seen in public since December and missed his inauguration for another term in January.

Vice President Maduro accused Venezuela\'s enemies of attacking the president with cancer. He did not say how that could have been done.

Mr. Chavez, the son of school teachers, dreamed of becoming a major league baseball player in the U.S. but he opted for a career as an army paratrooper.

He was jailed in 1992 for leading an unsuccessful coup against then-president Carlos Andres Perez and was elected to the office himself in 1998, promising to wipe out poverty and end corruption.

Mr. Chavez earned the enmity of the United States and much of the rest of Latin America for his socialist policies, nationalizing major companies, and courting such world leaders as Cuba\'s Fidel Castro, Iran\'s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Libya\'s Moammar Gadhafi.

The opposition accused him of becoming a dictator. Millions of poor Venezuelans revered him for using the country\'s vast oil wealth to give them access to low-cost food, free medical care and other social programs.

Also Tuesday, Venezuela expelled two U.S. diplomats, accusing them of meeting with military officers and plotting to destabilize the government.

The two diplomats are air attaches -- U.S. Air Force officers who are stationed in the embassy.

委内瑞拉副总统马杜洛星期二在委内瑞拉全国电视台上宣布了这一消息。他呼吁委内瑞拉民众展现出力量和勇气，团结起来，完成查韦斯“这位伟大领导人”的期望。

委内瑞拉外交部长豪阿宣布全国举行七天哀悼。他说，在星期五举行葬礼之前，查韦斯的遗体将停放在一所军事学院供公众瞻仰。

查韦斯上月返回委内瑞拉首都加拉加斯，此前他长时间在古巴接受治疗。有关官员说，查韦斯在加拉加斯一家军医院接受强化化疗之后，出现严重感染。

查韦斯患有骨盆癌。自去年12月以来，查韦斯一直没有公开露面，也没有出席他另一任在1月举行的总统就职典礼。

星期二，委内瑞拉副总统马杜洛指责委内瑞拉的敌人用癌症方式攻击查韦斯。他没有具体说明如何做到这一点。

查韦斯父母都是学校教师。他曾经梦想当一名职业棒球队员，但后来选择做了伞兵。

1992年，查韦斯由于领导发动推翻当时的委内瑞拉总统佩雷兹的政变失败而坐牢。查韦斯1998年当选总统。竞选期间，查韦斯誓言要扫除贫困，结束腐败。

查韦斯的一系列社会主义政策，包括将很多大公司国有化，引起美国和拉美许多国家的不满。在担任总统期间，查韦斯同国际间的一些领导人，诸如古巴的卡斯特罗、伊朗总统艾哈迈迪内贾德和利比亚的卡扎菲等，建立友好关系。

反对派称查韦斯是一位独裁者。但是数百万贫穷的民众尊敬他，因为查韦斯使用国家巨大的石油财富让他们得到廉价的食品，可以免费看病，以及使用其他一些社会计划。

另一方面，委内瑞拉星期二驱逐了两名美国外交官，指控他们会见委内瑞拉现役军官以密谋颠覆政府。这两名美国外交官是美国驻委内瑞拉大使馆的空军武官。