Fox News
Expand
Browse All Video
Watch Live

You're watching...

Who will succeed Chavez in Venezuela?

Details

  • Description

    Steve Harrigan reports from Miami

  • Duration 3:45
  • Date

Clips

Also in this playlist...

Editor's Picks

Auto-advance: ON

Auto-advance
View All

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated

Shepperd what's next is really a question mark at this point Hugo Chavez tried to lay the ground work for a successor with his vice president Nicholas -- who you point out correctly.

It's a fifty year old former bus driver and a high school graduate we learned today something about a -- When he said the United States might be behind -- giving Hugo Chavez cancer.

So any hopes that US policy makers had that this next.

Chain of events with Travis removed from the scene would perhaps be better from the US point of you -- is pretty much remove this man seems in his initial appearance on the world stage to be a hard line anti US leader.

Now he's not guaranteed to be in power although Travis picked him anointed him as his successor really in his dying days -- bureau.

Will have to run in a snap election likely within thirty days.

And it's likely to Travis party were trying to push for that election soon while they're still grief and momentum for the man who has -- Venezuela for the past fourteen years we can expect to see also.

A huge emotional outpouring.

No matter what you think of Hugo Chavez or is anti American rhetoric.

He was popular inside Venezuela especially among Venezuela's poor and time and time again he won popular elections.

Inside Venezuela that being said he also amassed enormous power this is a man who controlled the media who control billions of dollars.

In oil money he controlled the senate if you want to point to a building and say privatize it.

That business was suddenly owned by the government so really a man who at the same time he won democratic elections.

At at the very same time really concentrated that power in his own hands for the past fourteen years.

He would make claims in the past I want to rule for twenty years it looks like -- in the opposition could defeat him at about box.

Cancer defeating Hugo Chavez today at age 58 us.

-- there was a time not that long ago when when the people of Venezuela were suffering and suffering mightily when.

When Chavez was the publicist was taking private property and making it public property.

And leaving a lot of people who lived in Venezuela not necessarily the poorer because they always seem to do quite well under him.

But some in the middle class who had been trying to build businesses in the rest there was a lot of unrest within that country and I wonder if this is an opportunity.

For any some sort of change in your estimation where maybe the people get control some of their own destiny.

Well certainly that's -- beat -- -- in the opposition did have a good showing with the governor wants state Enrique hip relays.

I just last October he came closer to defeating Chavis and anyone has in the past and your right to point out that Venezuela does have serious problems.

Under Hugo Chavez it's a very violent country the homicide rate inside Caracas is enormous -- really.

The highest in the world inflation is also.

Run away just a few weeks ago you had people buying refrigerators trying to dump their currency and real scenes of almost economic power.

Despite that Venezuela is a place of enormous opportunity.

It has by surveys perhaps the largest reserves of oil.

In the world and Hugo Chavez has been very free to use that money almost to directly buy votes supplying medical care supplying subsidize foods especially in -- -- -- to election.

He really spent millions and millions of dollars to make sure he would get reelected so far that's been successful.

Now the question is can a man.

Of enormous charismatic ability -- man who really was a natural on television and entertainer a performer a man who generated great love especially among Venezuela's poor.

Can he be followed by successor who seems to look down and read from cue cards and today his initial appearance on the world scene.

Came off as nothing other than ignorant shepherd.

Steve Harrigan in our South Florida bureau on the death -- Hugo Chavez said the.

Load More