新闻英语：委内瑞拉总统查韦斯逝世(视频）
新东方网英语讯：乌戈·查韦斯是第53任的现任委内瑞拉总统。身为玻利瓦尔革命的领导人，查韦斯提倡他对于“21世纪社会主义”的理想、拉丁美洲的整合和反帝国主义。除此之外，他也大力批评新自由主义的全球化以及美国的外交政策。2012年10月8日，查韦斯赢得委内瑞拉总统选举，顺利连任。2013年3月5日，乌戈·查韦斯因病去世，享年57岁。"http://www.voanews.com/flash_6.11.0.29300.6/MediaPlayer.swf
Venezuelan President Chavez Dead at 58
Venezuelan officials say President Hugo Chavez has died after a long struggle with cancer.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced the death on national television Tuesday. He urged the Venezuelan people to show strength and courage, and to be united and fulfill the expectations of "this great leader."
The 58-year-old Chavez had been treated in Cuba for cancer before returning to Caracas last month. Officials say he came down with a severe infection after strong chemotherapy in a Caracas military hospital.
Chavez had cancer in his pelvis. He has not been seen in public since December and missed his inauguration for another term in January.
The secretary general of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, sent his condolences to the Venezuelan people, calling this a time of great sorrow. The OAS will hold a special meeting in memory of President Chavez.
Vice President Maduro Tuesday accused Venezuela's enemies of attacking the president with cancer. He did not say how that could have been done.
Also Tuesday, Venezuela expelled two U.S. diplomats, accusing them of meeting with military officers and plotting to destabilize the government.
The two diplomats are air attaches - U.S. Air Force officers who are stationed in the embassy.
A statement from the U.S. State Department rejected the Venezuelan claim about the diplomats and calls accusations that the United States was involved in causing Mr. Chavez's cancer absurd.
President Barack Obama said in a statement after the death was announced that the United States reaffirms its support for the Venezuelan people and is committed to polices that promote democracy, and human rights.
Chavez once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player, but instead he entered the world of politics. During his lifetime, the controversial president courted figures such as Fidel Castro of Cuba, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhadi.
As an army paratrooper in 1992, Chavez led an unsuccessful coup against then-president Carlos Andres Perez, and he spent time in jail for plotting the failed coup. Chavez's political fortunes later changed. He was elected president of oil-rich Venezuela in 1998, running on a populist platform and pledging to wipe out poverty and corruption.
He considered himself a revolutionary and said he was inspired by his political mentor, Fidel Castro, who held power for close to 50 years in Cuba. Critics often accused Chavez of steering Venezuela toward a Cuban-style one-party dictatorship.
Political analyst Luis Vicente Leon says Venezuela became undemocratic under the president's growing authoritarian rule.
"We rediscovered the needs of the poor classes, we rediscovered that it was necessary to tend to their problems," he said. "What are the negatives? Well, I think the most important of all is that Venezuela's democracy nowadays is quite a poor democracy."
Chavez was a fierce critic of the United States, which he often referred to as "the empire," and he accused the U.S. of supporting coup attempts against him - charges Washington denied. Back in 2006, he famously referred to then-U.S. president George W. Bush as "the devil" during a speech before the United Nations General Assembly.
"Yesterday the devil was here at this very spot. This podium where it is now my turn to speak still smells of sulfur," Chavez said.
As president, Chavez nationalized major companies across a range of industries -- from oil, steel and cement, to electricity and telecommunications. He also directed funds from the country's oil wealth to social programs for the needy. Additionally, he used electoral victories to extend the presidential term to six years and remove term limits.
Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, says the president's leftist policies hurt long-term economic development and contributed to rising crime. But he says Chavez will be remembered as a champion of the people who used his country's vast oil wealth to provide the poor with free housing and health care.
"There is nobody around who has the charisma and the ability to connect to Venezuelans the way Chavez did. Chavez as a figure and the memory of Chavez won't disappear. That will help sustain the movement," Shifter said.
Chavez also earned the ire of critics by cracking down on the opposition media. The human rights body of the Organization of American States voiced concern about the use of the punitive power of the state to silence opponents in Venezuela.
In 2008, Venezuela and Ecuador broke diplomatic relations with Bogota after Colombian troops raided a Colombian FARC rebel camp in Ecuador, killing a rebel commander and several other people.
Ties between Venezuela and Colombia soured over accusations that Venezuela harbors FARC rebels. Venezuela denied financing and supporting the FARC. Chavez, however, helped win the release of some Colombians held hostage by the FARC.
In June 2011, President Chavez was diagnosed with cancer and subsequently underwent surgeries in Cuba to remove tumors from his pelvic area. He then underwent chemotherapy both in Cuba and Venezuela for the disease. The president did not disclose what kind of cancer was being treated, but insisted he would be ready to run for re-election in October 2012. Chavez won a fourth term, but underwent a fourth cancer operation in Cuba in December. He was not seen in public after that, although a photograph of him with two daughters was released in the weeks prior to his death.
Chavez was to have been sworn in this past January, but the event did not occur because he was not well enough for the occasion.
人物介绍：
乌戈·查韦斯是委内瑞拉第53任总统。他1954年7月28日出生于委内瑞拉巴里纳斯州。他结过两次婚，育有一子三女。
查韦斯早年毕业于委内瑞拉军事学院，并被授予军事科学和艺术硕士学位，之后便开始了长达17年的军旅生涯。他曾荣获“卡拉博博之星”和“陆军十字”等勋章，并于1991年任空降营中校营长。
查韦斯于1982年创建了“玻利瓦尔革命运动”，主张建立委内瑞拉民族英雄玻利瓦尔所倡导的“拉美国家联盟”以及在委内瑞拉进行深刻改革，改变不合理的政治经济体制。1992年，查韦斯策动兵变，失败后被捕入狱，后于1994年获释。他当时被民众视为对抗政府贪污和腐败的英雄人物。
出狱后，查韦斯于1997年创建了“第五共和国运动”。在1998年举行的大选中，查韦斯作为左翼竞选联盟“爱国中心”的总统候选人参加大选并获胜，在1999年就职总统后便展开了广泛的制度转变。
此后，查韦斯于2000年、2006年和2012年三次连任总统，并于2008年当选委内瑞拉统一社会主义党主席。查韦斯执政以来，大刀阔斧地实行了反新自由主义的政治、经济和社会改革。在外交政策方面，查韦斯敢于同美国抗衡，积极推动拉美地区经济一体化进程，注重加强与其他地区发展中国家的关系。
查韦斯对华友好，曾于1999年、2001年、2004年、2006年和2008年多次对中国进行国事访问，并于2009年4月对中国进行工作访问。
2011年6月10日，查韦斯在古巴访问时接受骨盆囊肿手术，6月20日再次接受手术切除恶性肿瘤，同月他承认患癌症。随后三个月他在古巴接受了四轮化疗。2012年2月查韦斯再次赴古巴接受手术摘除肿瘤，随后在古巴接受多次放疗。12月，查韦斯之前被切除的恶性肿瘤区域又发现了新的癌细胞，查韦斯再次赴古巴进行新的手术。今年2月18日，查韦斯返回委内瑞拉并在一家军事医院继续接受治疗。委内瑞拉政府4日晚透露，查韦斯出现免疫抑制现象并再度患上严重呼吸道感染，健康状况堪忧。
委内瑞拉多名高官先后赴古巴探望查韦斯，这些人也都是查韦斯的盟友。包括副总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗、国民议会主席卡贝罗、总检察长佛洛雷斯，以及查韦斯的兄弟、巴里纳斯州州长阿丹等。
查韦斯此前曾表示，如他发生不测，副总统马杜罗将是其“接班人”。
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