REUTERS / Miraflores Palace
"I will remain as long as God and the people command me to," said
Hugo Chávez in 2008. At the time, the Venezuelan president and left-wing
nationalist was at the apex of his power. Fifty-four years old and in
office for 10 years, he self-confidently and energetically planned for
the next decade as Latin America's longest serving head of state.
At the time, it was unimaginable that this gifted orator and former officer would be gravely ill by the time
the 2012 presidential elections
arrived. A year prior to that vote, Chávez had undergone the first of
what would become four operations to free him of cancer. In recent
months, his public image had come to be dominated primarily by reports
on his health and further surgical procedures -- a significant come-down
for a man who had presented a thorny challenge to the political elite
of South America and who had seen himself as a bulwark against the US.
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