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Maduro takes the oath as acting president and candidate for the coming elections

Saturday, March 9th 2013 - 05:57 UTC
Full article 30 comments

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in Friday as acting president of Venezuela in a ceremony held in the National Assembly in Caracas, three days after the death of President Hugo Chavez. He immediately asked the Electoral branch to decide on an election date. Read full article

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  • Britworker

    Hahaha, they've got no hope of shifting this guy once his feet are under the table, he's had the tasteless tracks suit measured up and has already got that despot look about him.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 07:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Ayayay

    We wish you luck in helping the least-wealthy, and everyone!

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 08:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    Well, it has started!

    Abuse of power, complete disregard for the constitution (who would have thought that in Venezuela?) and the bus driver playing at being President.

    But the morons who thought Dead Man Now Dead actually helped them by giving them handouts instead of getting the economy working will vote for this despot in waiting. It would of course have meant they needed to WORK for a living: seemingly an alien notion.

    No room on top, hold very tight there, ding, ding. Bet that confuses the argies.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 10:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • reality check

    And the son in law is Vice President. for how long? Watch your back Maduro.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 10:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Mendoza Canadian

    Maduro admitted, (without seemiing to know it) in his speech, that Chavez lied to the people about his cancer.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 10:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Stevie

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epPD4GYZa_8

    Keep spreading your lies, we'll deal with them as they come.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 11:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • reality check

    Good grief, your a fan of Galloway, that explains a lot.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 11:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Stevie

    7
    Your case is difficult to explain, you still seem to believe we live in the early 20th century were you could lie and discredit for your own purposes. The world is way to connected for you to spread lies like that today. Too easy to confirm as lies.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 11:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • reality check

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever you say George.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 11:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Orbit

    @8 Any chance you can also advise Timerman and CFK similarly?

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 12:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JohnN

    From Washington Post story on Maduro, his claims that US may have killed Chávez:

    “An assertion that the United States was somehow involved in causing President Chavez’s illness is absurd, and we definitely reject it,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. “The United States has options of reciprocal action available to it under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”

    The theory does not seem to be gaining much ground in Venezuelan Twitter circles, either.
    “These people promote the crazy thesis of Chavez’s assassination!” wrote one man. “Since it’s not epic that the guy died in his bed.”

    “Yes, the U.S. caused Chavez’s cancer, the Russian meteor, the bird flu, and the sinking of the Titanic,” wrote another in Chile.

    Maduro’s allegations have, however, received a boost from Eva Golinger, the prominent Venezuelan lawyer and editor who, in an interview with Russia Today, claimed that there was concrete evidence for Chavez’s assassination. Videos and articles of that interview — like this one, from Venezuela’s UltimasNoticias.com – have been widely circulated on Twitter.

    “There is evidence that 70 years ago they tried to assassinate then Cuban President Fidel Castro with radiation, in addition to other methods,” Golinger said in an interview. “We can only imagine the weapons capacity the U.S. possesses today.”
    - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/05/maduro-promises-to-investigate-chavez-assassination/

    Also on Russia Today's Spanish service:
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/05/maduro-promises-to-investigate-chavez-assassination/
    and video: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/05/maduro-promises-to-investigate-chavez-assassination/

    .

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 02:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • commonsparrow

    No, the US did not give Chavez cancer.
    A great article below, and the comments are funny! Enjoy.
    http://gawker.com/5989283/could-the-us-have-assassinated-hugo-chavez-using-cancer

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 03:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • BAMF Paraguay

    This is actually exciting for me. I find it hard to believe that Maduro will be able to hold together what Chavez did. The flow of money to keep everyone in line must get disrupted at this point. Chavez was involved in most decisions, especially those that involved money. So at this point the money supply must have been disrupted, not only to other nations but internally as well. Without the money flowing into the hands of Chavez's followers, people begin to look elsewhere for their needs. Also money begins to get diverted to other “loyalists” or concentrated in new small groups. We are bound to see factions within the party and this will only get worse.

    Looking at the situation, Maduro will either rig the elections (most probable scenario), or simply declare a state of emergency and thus the delay of elections. During this delay he can try and regroup the party, but that is easier said than done. So he may simply become a dictator like the Castro brothers (elections are held every so often with 98% voting in favor of Castro).

    In any situation, it will be fun to watch and see how the world views an obvious dictatorship trying to act like a democracy. Brazil will have to make a choice should it want to be treating like a real world player.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 03:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Captain Poppy

    #12 enjoyed that article and it just shows the intelligence quotient of the people in Venezuela if they actually believe it. I certainly think if we can weaponize cancer, why in the hell would we not speed up the sequence and we certainly have more worthy candidates than Chubby. I especially loved the notion of HPV and anal sex......maybe the CIA infected someone that Chubby liked after his divorce, someone named Raul. Maybe Chubby like playing the role of Margarita on all fours. Perhaps it was his ass being removed in Cuba all this time....?

    lol

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 03:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ElaineB

    Evo Morales is convinced Chavez was infected by the US. LOL! Says it all.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 07:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • briton

    Nicolás Maduro Moros
    He is considered one of the founders of the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR),

    In early 2012, Maduro declared during a public speech that the opposition politicians were ”faggots
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Maduro
    mm
    .

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 08:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Ayayay

    Bus driver-scientist-technocrat comin thru!

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 08:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • reality check

    What we have here ladies and gents, is a clear case of MADuro becoming infected with what ever the late lamented Chavez had!

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 09:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Ayayay

    I did find a good thing about Maduro. He's a Sai Baba follower.
    Dude only preached peace, unlike the drama of Catholicism.

    I don't think he's smart, & he accused ppl of things in the heat of the moment a couple of times. But this is a clear reconciliator.

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 10:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Captain Poppy

    The armed chavistas have been called to arms by Maduro to ensure that dictocracy goes the right way during the elections....the Maduro way. Chubby taught him well. Maybe we can call him Madman Maduro

    http://news.yahoo.com/wild-card-venezuela-armed-chavistas-211903664.html

    Mar 09th, 2013 - 10:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • briton

    you said== He's a Sai Baba follower,

    did you mean, ali baba lol.
    and his fortie thieves..

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 01:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • JohnN

    Maduro's Sai Baba thought better get in gear - a “Global Peace Index” has Venezuela pretty far down at #123, waaay less peaceful than Falklands (UK rank) of 29 or even Argentina's bellicose 44:
    http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi-data/

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 02:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • British_Kirchnerist

    “In a rambling speech that evoked the bombastic oratory of Chavez”

    So a purely factual report from mercopress with no bias then...

    #4 Barring almost unbelievable circumstances, Maduro will be President for at least the rest of Chavez's term. Chavez did say at one point that he would like a female successor, so who knows who else may emerge in the future, but I don't think he'd have appointed a VP he expected to bump him off!

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 03:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Ayayay

    You know, the life expectancy for a male born in 1967 Venezuela , (stats I found only go nack that far) say:

    61.4 years.

    Factor in morbid obesity, std(s), a refusal to follow physician protocols, and heavy smoking and Chavez really held on there. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/life-expectancy-at-birth-male-years-wb-data.html

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 03:56 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ManRod

    I hope Maduro gets elected, so all the mess Chavez has done in the last decades explodes right up in his face... if Capriles gets elected, they would ridiculously blame him for it.

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 01:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Captain Poppy

    I was thinking the toilet was already flushed and whomever gets elected, they are in the shot vortex.

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 03:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    A little gem courtesy of BsAs Herald:

    http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/126038/justin-timberlake-mocks-chávez

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 06:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anglotino

    @ 25 MadRod

    I too am conflicted. I hope Capriles gets elected because he can start the generation long rectification of Chavez's mistakes. Even though I am anti-Chavez I was still suprised to learn that other South American countries had reduced their poverty and inequality levels more than Venezuela and WITHOUT a oil price boom.

    The comparisons with Colombia next door are amazing. It is almost as if the countries have swapped positions on most measures.

    But I also hope Maduro gets elected because the house of cards is teetering and will eventually fall down. And if it falls down on his watch then that will do more to de-chavismo Venezuela more than anyone else.

    If Capriles wins, then economic problems for the next several years will be blamed on him even though, to any intelligent person, they clearly exist already and the root cause can be laid at the cold, dead feet of Hugo.

    Mar 10th, 2013 - 10:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Stevie

    Anglotlatino
    Seems you'll be playing 1x2. That way you can always say “I told you”.

    Mar 11th, 2013 - 08:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anglotino

    Stevie

    You seem to have an inordinate amount of trouble with my name. It really isn't that difficult for a portmanteau. Funnily enough Stevie, as a diminutive in my country, has connotations of simple mindedness. Just thought I'd share.

    I'm not sure what 1x2 means but anyway, the more I think about it, the more I want Maduro to win. There was an interesting article on Radio National today when I was driving home from work that highlighted the problems now facing Venezuela.

    I've seen the light. Maduro and the Chavistas need to win so they can eventually lose. Dismantling Chavez's poisoned legacy will eventually happen.

    Maduro will ensure it happens sooner rather than later.

    Mar 11th, 2013 - 09:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0

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