President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela died on Tuesday afternoon after a long battle with cancer, the government announced, leaving behind a bitterly divided nation in the grip of a political crisis that grew more acute as he weakened for weeks, silent and out of sight in hospitals in Havana and Caracas.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro with his voice cracking and close to tears said that he and other officials had gone to the military hospital where Chavez was being treated, removed from the public, when they received the hardest and most tragic information that they could transmit to their people.

The capital quickly became an enormous traffic jam and within short order, police officers and soldiers were highly visible as people ran through the streets, calling loved ones on cellphones, rushing to get home. Stores and shopping malls abruptly closed. As dark fell, government television showed a muted crowd congregating in the main square of Caracas while some people crying. Moreover, Chavez supporters set fire to tents and mattresses used by university students who had chained themselves together in protest several days ago to demand more information about Chavez's condition.

Chavez, 58, changed Venezuela in fundamental ways, empowering and energizing millions of poor people who had felt marginalized and excluded but Chavez's rule also widened society's divisions and his death is sure to bring more changes and vast uncertainty as the nation tries to find its way without its central figure.

Its unfortunate to hear Hugo Chavez death. May God rest his soul in peace!

(AW:Samrat Biswas)