Chavez cause of death: A massive heart attack was what killed Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez this week, a report said.
President Hugo Chavez died of a massive heart attack, the head of Venezuela’s presidential guard said late on Wednesday, according to a report from The Associated Press.
Chavez, whose death was confirmed on television Wednesday, “couldn’t speak but he said it with his lips ... `I don’t want to die. Please don’t let me die,'” Gen. Jose Ornella told the news agency in an exclusive report.
Ornella spent the past two years with Chavez, even when he was battling with complications from cancer. Chavez went to Cuba in December and underwent a fourth surgery, but had not been seen or heard publicly since then.
The general added that Chavez’s cancer was very advanced but did not elaborate further, according to AP. He did not respond to questions over whether cancer spread to ailing leader’s lungs.
Venezuela has not publicly stated what kind of cancer Chavez had, with Ornella merely saying “he suffered a lot.”
A source told Reuters that the cancer had spread to his lungs. The same source said that he slipped into a coma on Monday, dying the next day of respiratory failure.
Like Vice President Nicolas Maduro and others, Ornella suspected that his cancer and death was due to foul play, without specifying.
“I think it will be 50 years before they declassify a document (that) I think (will show) the hand of the enemy is involved,” he told the news agency.
On Thursday, it was reported that Chavez’s body will be embalmed for public view in a move similar to Communist Party dictators Lenin, Stalin, and Mao.
“It has been decided that the body of the comandante will be embalmed so that it remains eternally on view for the people at the museum,” said Maduro on state TV, according to Reuters.
Maduro likely will run against Henrique Capriles, who campaigned against Chavez during the last election.
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