Who killed Hugo Chavez?

The secrecy surrounding the death of Hugo Chavez has left a vacuum that is speedily being filled with wild rumours and speculation.
In Moscow, Gennady Zyuganov, leader of Russia’s Communist party, is among those who believe Chavez’s death was the result of unspecified external forces, according to the Russian newspaper Ria Novosti. “How did it happen that six leaders of Latin American countries which had criticized U.S. policies and tried to create an influential alliance in order to be independent and sovereign states, fell ill simultaneously with the same disease?” Zyuganov said in comments carried by Russian state television. “In my view, this was far from a coincidence,” said Zyuganov, the head of Russia’s second-largest political party. He urged an investigation under “international control” into Chavez’s death.

The Venezuelan president had not been seen in public this year since his return from Havana, where he was being treated for cancer. Indeed, some suspect he died in Cuba and his body was quickly flown back to Caracas.

Their paranoia has been given additional fuel by Nicolas Maduro, his vice-president and expected successor. Speaking immediately after Chavez’s death was announced, he pointed the finger at the opposition and that favourite whipping boy, the United States, reports Jonathan Watts for The Guardian.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Venezuelan government has claimed a foreign plot could be behind the leader’s cancer, CNN noted.

Given the Central Intelligence Agency’s zany plans to assassinate Cuba’s Fidel Castro with poisoned cigars and exploding seashells when he was scuba diving, perhaps the Venezuelan was right to be paranoid.
Donna Bowater at The Daily Telegraph picks up on the possibility Chavez died in Cuba. "Unnamed and unsupported sources within the president’s medical team reportedly leaked information to the newspaper to suggest Chavez was secretly moved back to a hospital in Cuba where he eventually died [Tuesday] morning."

Of course, Chavez’s death is a disaster for Communist Cuba, which has been propped up by the 115,000 barrels of oil a day it receives from Caracas. Venezuela also pays for tens of thousands of Cuban doctors and sports trainers who are deployed all over Latin America. In all, it’s a subvention worth an estimated $5-billion.