(RNN) – The Venezuelan government has reported its president, Hugo Chavez, has died
Officials announced he died at 4:22 ET Tuesday. Chavez was recently hospitalized with a severe respiratory infection, according to his representative.
The country’s communications minister, Ernesto Villegas, said in a statement that the stricken president was “standing by Christ and life, conscious of the difficulties he faces.”
He had been president of Venezuela for the past 14 years and won re-election in October 2012 when he defeated Henrique Capriles, governor of Miranda.
Capriles was widely expected to run for president again upon Chavez’s death.
Chavez had been battling cancer since at least 2011, when he announced his condition to the Venezuelan public. He most recently sought treatment in Cuba, but returned to Venezuela on Feb. 18.
Several media reports indicated he was bed-ridden and feeding from a tracheal tube. He had not been publicly seen since December, but the Venezuelan government released a photo of him with his daughters in a Cuban hospital.
Chavez was born on July 28, 1954. He rose through the ranks of the Venezuelan military and served as an army officer before participating in an attempted coup in 1992, for which he served two years in prison.
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Article and Picture Courtesy of WOIO 19 Action News
