Venezuela: Investigation into Chávez ‘Poisoning’ Claims

Officials are set to investigate claims that the death of president Hugo Chávez was perpetrated by foreign agents.

In an interview with Telesur, a Venezuela based newsprovider for Latin America, caretaker president Nicolás Maduro announced plans to launch an official investigation into the death of the late Hugo Chávez. The commission will be made up panel of top experts and scientists from around the world who will investigate the cancer that caused his passing.

Bolivia’s president Evo Morales also weighed in on the matter last Sunday saying he was “almost entirely convinced that it was a poisoning”. He went on to add that “the empire” (understood to mean the United States) has “all the tools” necessary to carry out such a plan. In his mind, it represents an attempt by Venezuela’s enemies to overthrow “governments and leaders of social movements that are anti-capitalist”.

Maduro affirmed that his type of cancer was unusual, “breaking all the norms of the disease” and pledged to “discover the truth”. In a mystical discourse, Madura cited his “intuition” as leading him to the conclusion that Chávez had been poisoned by “dark forces”.

Oil Minister Rafael Rámirez told the BBC that the United States and Israel were to blame.

The opposition party candidate Henrique Capriles has further added to the speculation surrounding Chávez’s death. Earlier this week he asked, “when did Chávez die?” insinuating that ruling party was concealing an elaborate cover up. Chávez’s daughter, María Gabriela, took to twitter this morning to lay the allegation to rest, writing “my father died fighting, and he died in his homeland on 5th March 2013”.