Hugo Chavez, dead at 58 (AP photo)CARACAS, Venezuela (ABC) - Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's fiery and controversial socialist president who
came to power on wave of popular sentiment and befriended some of the
world's most nefarious dictators, has died at the age of 58, Venezuelan
Vice President Nicolas Maduro said today.
Chavez had been fighting cancer, recently seeking treatment at a clinic in Cuba.
A self-described champion of the poor who first tried to overturn
Venezuela's powerful elites in a failed 1992 coup, Chavez was
democratically elected in 1999, with huge support from the country's
poor.
During his time in office, he became one of Latin America's most
well-known and polarizing figures. A constant thorn in the side of the United States,
he commanded headlines in newspapers around the world. A populist who
suppressed free speech, he remained immensely popular among his
country's poor.
From the time he won election in 1999, Chavez held onto power through
tightly controlling the media and through a series of populist elections
and referenda, including one that allowed him to seek a limitless
number of terms.
Click here for more from ABC News.
