Hugo Chávez died on 5 March 2013 from cancer at the age of 58

It is a fact that Hugo Chávez died on 5 March 2013 from cancer at the age of 58. On March 5, 2013, Vice President Nicolás Maduro stated on state television that Chávez had died at 16:25 VET in a military hospital in Caracas (20:55 UTC). According to the Vice President, Chávez died after battling a difficult illness for over two years. According to the chief of Venezuela's presidential security, Chávez died of a major heart attack, and his pelvic cancer was advanced at the time of his death.

Leamsy Salazar, Chávez's former bodyguard, defected from Venezuela and reported that he died in December 2012, months before his death was officially revealed. Former Attorney General Luisa Ortega Daz also stated in July 2018 that Chávez died in December 2012 and that the notification of his death was postponed for political reasons. The former Chávez supporter stated in an interview quoted by Venezuelan daily El Nacional that the Venezuelan president died on December 28, but his closest friends opted to delay the announcement and never submitted the death certificate to the Office of the Attorney General. The alleged delay in announcing Chávez's death aroused worries that laws signed in his name during that time period were forgeries. His death sparked a constitutional necessity to call a presidential election within 30 days of his death. On April 14, 2013, Maduro, Chavez's vice president, was elected president.