CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s acting president said on Wednesday that “far right” figures in the United States were plotting to kill opposition leader Henrique Capriles in an increasingly volatile atmosphere ahead of an April 14 election.

Accusations are flying and emotions are running high in the South American OPEC nation of 29 million people since the death last week of former socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

CARACAS (Reuters) – From Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Oscar-winner Sean Penn, an eclectic mix of mourners bid farewell on Friday to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez at a state funeral for the charismatic but divisive leader who changed the face of South American politics.

Chavez died this week at age 58 after a two-year battle with cancer, devastating millions of mostly poor supporters who hailed him for plowing Venezuela’s vast oil wealth into social projects, but giving hope to foes who decried him as a dictator.

CARACAS (Reuters) – At least two dozen heads of state were due to attend Hugo Chavez’s funeral on Friday during an outpouring of grief for the charismatic but divisive Venezuelan leader who changed the face of politics in South America.

Chavez died on Tuesday at age 58 after a two-year battle with cancer, devastating millions of mostly poor supporters who loved him for putting the country’s vast oil wealth at their service, but giving hope to opponents who denounced him as a dictator.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Former bus driver and union leader Nicolas Maduro followed a simple strategy when he filled in for cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over the past three months: copy his boss’s policies, his style and even his fierce rhetoric.

Now that Chavez is dead, Maduro will almost certainly stick with the same approach as he tries to win a presidential election and inherit Chavez’s self-styled socialist revolution.

CARACAS, March 6 (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez’s death has unleashed a flood of emotional tributes that
his allies hope will help ensure the survival of his self-styled
socialist revolution when voters elect a successor.

The 58-year-old died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with
cancer that was first detected in his pelvis. He had suffered
multiple complications following his latest operation on Dec. 11
and had not been seen in public since then.

CARACAS (Reuters) – At two defining moments of his rule, Venezuela’s theatrical leader Hugo Chavez took a small silver crucifix from his pocket and held it above his head.

Both marked a quasi-religious “return” for the socialist ex-soldier whom supporters loved with messianic fervor – first from a 2002 coup that saw him jailed on a tiny Caribbean island, and then from cancer surgery in Cuba in June 2011.

CARACAS, March 6 (Reuters) – Venezuelans mourned the death
of Hugo Chavez and prepared on Wednesday for his body to lie in
state as attention turns to a new election to succeed the
socialist leader after 14 years of tumultuous and divisive rule.

The 58-year-old president died on Tuesday after a two-year
battle with cancer that was first detected in his pelvis. He had
suffered multiple complications following his latest operation
on Dec. 11 and had not been seen in public since then.

CARACAS (Reuters) – At two defining moments of his rule, Venezuela’s theatrical leader Hugo Chavez took a small silver crucifix from his pocket and held it above his head.

Both marked a quasi-religious “return” for the socialist ex-soldier whom supporters loved with messianic fervor – first from a 2002 coup that saw him jailed on a tiny Caribbean island, and then from cancer surgery in Cuba in June 2011.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday after his battle with cancer, ending the socialist leader’s extraordinary 14-year rule of the OPEC nation.

Here are some key facts about Chavez:

* Born to a poor family in Venezuela’s plains, or “llanos,” on July 28, 1954, Chavez once aspired to be a painter and then a professional baseball player in the U.S. Major Leagues.

CARACAS, March 5 (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez has died after a two-year battle with cancer, ending
the socialist leader’s 14-year rule of the South American
country, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised
speech on Tuesday.

The flamboyant 58-year-old leader had undergone four
operations in Cuba for a cancer that was first detected in his
pelvic region in mid-2011. His last surgery was on Dec. 11 and
he had not been seen in public since.