Venezuela's Hugo Chavez Is Dead 

The Vice President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro has announced the death of President Hugo Chavez on national television on Tuesday. 

President Hugo Chavez died after battling with cancer. He was 58.

Vice President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro urged the Venezuelan people to show strength and courage, and be united and fulfill the expectations of "this great leader."  

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

The 58-year-old 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.

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

Chavez once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but instead he entered the world of politics. During his lifetime, the controversial president courted figures such as Fidel Castro of Cuba, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhadi.

As an army paratrooper in 1992, Chavez led an unsuccessful coup against then-president Carlos Andres Perez, and he spent time in jail for plotting the failed coup. Chavez's political fortunes later changed.  He was elected president of oil-rich Venezuela in 1998, running on a populist platform and pledging to wipe out poverty and corruption. 

President Barack Obama said in a statement after the death was announced that the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and is committed to polices that promote democracy, and human rights.

The secretary general of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, also sent his condolences to the Venezuelan people, calling this a time of great sorrow. The OAS will hold a special meeting in memory of President Chavez.

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

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.

A statement from the U.S. State Department rejected the Venezuelan claim about the diplomats and calls accusations that the United States was involved in causing Mr. Chavez's cancer absurd. 

VOA NEWS