Story highlights Official: Maduro will temporarily assume the presidency until elections are held 
 
 A state funeral for Chavez will be held Friday, Venezuela's foreign minister says 
 
 Venezuela's defense minister says troops are deploying to ensure safety 
 
 "We must unite now more than ever," Venezuela's vice president says 
 
 A deeply divided Venezuela is mourning its late leader and preparing to pick a new president to replace him. 
 
 Venezuelan officials called for peace and unity after President Hugo Chavez's death on Tuesday , emphasizing in state television broadcasts that all branches of the government and the military were standing together. 
 
 Elections will be held in 30 days, and Vice President Nicolas Maduro will assume the presidency in the interim, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said in an interview broadcast on state-run VTV. 
 
 Tearing up as he announced Chavez's death after a long battle with cancer, Maduro called on Venezuelans to remain respectful. 
 
 "We must unite now more than ever," Maduro said. 
 
 Henrique Capriles Radonski, a former presidential candidate and opposition leader, said Venezuelans should come together. 
 
 "This is not the time for difference," he said. "It is the time for unity. It is the time for peace." 
 
 Supporters of Chavez poured into a Caracas square soon after news of his death spread. Some wept openly. Others waved flags and held up pictures of the late president. 
 
 There were no reports of major violence, but there was palpable tension in the streets, as some Venezuelans heading home from work tried to steer clear of Chavez's fervent supporters. 
 
 Venezuela's military is in a "process of deploying ... to ensure the safety of all Venezuelans" and to support the country's constitution in the wake of Chavez's death, said Adm. Diego Molero, Venezuela's defense minister. 
 
 Venezuela prepares for funeral, elections 
 
 Venezuela's government has declared seven days of national mourning, Jaua said. At Venezuelan embassies around the world Tuesday, flags were flying at half mast. 
 
 Chavez's remains will be taken to a military academy in Caracas on Wednesday, Jaua said. There he will lie in state for three days. His state funeral will be held there on Friday morning, Jaua said. 
 
 The announcement of Chavez's death came hours after Maduro met with the country's top political and military leaders about Chavez's worsening health condition and suggested someone may have deliberately infected Chavez with cancer. 
 
 Chavez first announced his cancer diagnosis in June 2011, but the government never revealed details about his prognosis or specified what kind of cancer he had 
 
 Shortly before his last trip to Cuba for cancer surgery in December, Chavez tapped Maduro as the man he wanted to replace him. 
 
 "He is one of the young leaders with the greatest ability to continue, if I cannot," Chavez said. 
 
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 Maduro made no mention of running for election in his public comments Tuesday, but he is widely expected to be the United Socialist Party of Venezuela's candidate for the job. 
 
 During Chavez's absence from the political stage over the past three months, Maduro has been front and center. He has spoken at political rallies around the country and delivered updates about Chavez on national television, drawing growing support from Chavez loyalists. 
 
 Opposition critics have said he was campaigning for office -- a claim the government has denied. Even as Jaua said Tuesday that Maduro would temporarily assume the presidency, some critics questioned whether that was constitutional, since Chavez missed his inauguration and was never officially sworn in 
 
 Opposition politicians haven't said who will represent them in the election. But as speculation mounted over Chavez's health in recent weeks, many had turned to Capriles, who lost to Chavez in October's presidential contest. 
 
 On Tuesday, Capriles called for a national dialogue including all Venezuelans, not just Chavez's supporters. 
 
 "Today there are thousands, maybe millions, of Venezuelans who are asking themselves what will happen, who feel anxiety, and including those who feel afraid," Capriles said. 
 
 Chavez supporters, critics react 
 
 Word of Chavez's death drew swift expressions of sorrow and solidarity from regional allies. 
 
 Ecuador and Cuba both announced three days of national mourning to honor Chavez. 
 
 "The national government expresses its solidarity in light of this irreparable loss that puts the Venezuelan people and all the region in mourning and at the same time sends its heartfelt condolences to the family of the late champion of Latin America," Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement. 
 
 Bolivian President Evo Morales' voice cracked as he spoke to reporters, describing Chavez as someone "who gave all his life for the liberation of the Venezuelan people ... of all the anti-imperialists and anti-capitalists of the world." 
 
 But longtime critics of the controversial president offered a different take. 
 
 "Hugo Chavez was a tyrant who forced the people of Venezuela to live in fear. His death dents the alliance of anti-U.S. leftist leaders in South America. Good riddance to this dictator," said U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. "Venezuela once had a strong democratic tradition and was close to the United States. Chavez's death sets the stage for fresh elections. While not guaranteed, closer U.S. relations with (this) key country in our Hemisphere are now possible." 
 
 Venezuela-U.S. relations surge into spotlight 
 
 Just hours before the announcement of Chavez's death, relations between the two countries appeared to be souring, as Venezuelan officials said they were expelling two U.S. Embassy officials and accused them of plotting to destabilize the country. 
 
 The U.S. officials, both air attaches at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, are accused of having meetings with members of the Venezuelan military and encouraging them to pursue "destabilizing projects," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said. 
 
 "We will not allow any foreign interference in our country," Jaua said. "Do not think that the situation of pain over the health of President Chavez will translate into weakness." 
 
 State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell denied the accusations. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the significant differences between our governments, we continue to believe it important to seek a functional and more productive relationship with Venezuela based on issues of mutual interest," he said. "This fallacious assertion of inappropriate U.S. action leads us to conclude that, unfortunately, the current Venezuelan government is not interested an improved relationship." 
 
 After announcing the expulsion of one attache, Maduro -- addressing the media in a lengthy statement -- asserted that someday there will be "scientific proof" that Chavez was somehow infected by outsiders. 
 
 "An assertion that the United States was somehow involved in causing President Chavez's illness is absurd, and we definitively reject it," Ventrell said. 
 
 It isn't the first time that a Venezuelan government official has implied that a plot could be behind Chavez's cancer. 
 
 Chavez made the assertion himself in 2011, saying at a military event in Caracas that he wondered whether the United States could be infecting Latin American leaders with the illness. ||||| Venezuela's defense minister is pledging that the military will remain loyal to the constitution in the wake of President Hugo Chavez's death. 
 
 A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez wipes away tears as she prays for the ailing president at the military hospital's chapel in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. A brief statement... (Associated Press) 
 
 A woman reads a newspaper as she stands by a wall covered with posters showing Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez pictured with his daughters Maria Gabriela, and Rosa Virginia, outside the military hospital... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro, right, addresses the nation from Miraflores presidential palace as Governor Adan Chavez, the... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo released by Miraflores Presidential Press Office, Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro, top center in white, addresses the nation from Miraflores presidential palace during a meeting... (Associated Press) 
 
 A poster of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is seen through a cross-shaped window, from inside the military hospital's chapel, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. A brief statement read on... (Associated Press) 
 
 Pedestrians walks past graffiti that reads in Spanish; "Chavez lives and will prevail," outside the military hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. A brief statement read on national... (Associated Press) 
 
 People sit in a restaurant where a TV on the wall shows a live image of Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro addressing the nation on state television during a government meeting in Caracas, Venezuela,... (Associated Press) 
 
 A student protestor demanding more information about President Hugo Chavez's health reads a newspaper with a front page headline that reads in Spanish; "The President worsens," in Caracas, Venezuela,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Admiral Diego Molero appeared on national television to appeal for "unity, tranquility and understanding" among Venezuelans. 
 
 He says troops will safeguard the sovereignty of the country. 
 
 THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. 
 
 Venezuela's vice president announced that President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday, ending 14 years of rule by the firebrand socialist but leaving his party firmly in control of the nation. 
 
 Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that Chavez died "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years." 
 
 The death apparently sets up a presidential election to replace Chavez, whose illness prevented him from taking the oath of office for the term to which he was re-elected last year. 
 
 Under the constitution, the head of Congress, Diosdado Cabello, would assume the interim presidency. 
 
 The announcement came just hours after Maduro announced the government had expelled two U.S. diplomats from the country. 
 
 Maduro also said "we have no doubt" that Chavez's cancer, which was first diagnosed in June 2011, was induced by foul play by "the historical enemies of our homeland." 
 
 He compared the situation to the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, claiming Arafat was "inoculated with an illness." 
 
 Chavez's inner circle has long claimed the United States was behind a failed 2002 attempt to overthrow him, and he has frequently played the anti-American card to stir up support. Venezuela has been without a U.S. ambassador since July 2010. 
 
 Maduro is Chavez's self-anointed successor and has been taking on a larger role since the socialist leader urged Venezuelans to choose him as president before disappearing in early December to undergo a fourth round of cancer surgery in Cuba. 
 
 Venezuela's Constitution calls for snap presidential elections to be held if Chavez dies, and some analysts wondered whether Maduro's suggesting the country was under attack by U.S. subterfuge might not be an excuse to delay the election and tighten his grip on power. 
 
 The government announced late Monday that Chavez's condition was "very delicate" due to a "new, severe" respiratory infection threw an already anxious nation into even greater uncertainty 
 
 "We don't know if he's alive or if he's dead, because they are manipulating the public," Antonio Perez, a retired 60-year-old public servant, said of the government. "Everyone want to just see the president to know if it's true that he's still with us." 
 
 Supporters of the 58-year-old president prayed for Chavez on Tuesday at a chapel outside the military hospital where the government says he has been since Feb. 18. 
 
 Maduro aired his claim of an alleged attempt to destabilize "Venezuelan society" and the "political system constructed in recent years" before the nation's high command, and the governors of 20 of 23 states loyal to President Chavez, half of them former military officers. 
 
 He accused U.S. Embassy's Air Force attache Col. David Delmonaco of spying on Venezuela's military and seeking to involve officers in "destabilizing projects." Maduro gave Delmonaco 24 hours to leave, and U.S. officials said he had already departed the country. 
 
 Later Tuesday, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said a second U.S. Air Force attache was being expelled, also for alleged espionage. 
 
 "Let's remember that active participation of the United States in the fascist coup of 2002," Jaua said. 
 
 Chavez had neither been seen nor heard from, except for photos released in mid-February, since submitting to a fourth round of surgery in Cuba on Dec. 11 for an unspecified cancer in the pelvic area. It was first diagnosed in June 2011. 
 
 The government said Chavez returned home on Feb. 18 and has been confined to Caracas' military hospital ever since. 
 
 Maduro said Tuesday that the government was "on the trail of other elements that figure in this entire venomous scenario and are seeking to stir up trouble." 
 
 The man Chavez defeated in Oct. 7 presidential elections, the youthful Miranda state Gov. Henrique Capriles, would be expected to represent the opposition in any new elections. 
 
 Maduro repeated government claims that Capriles met in the United States over the weekend with right-wing U.S. conspirators and was planning to meet over the weekend with Roberta Jacobsen, assistant U.S. secretary of state for the hemisphere. 
 
 One provocateur on state TV even accused the Capriles family of buying a New York City apartment with stolen funds. 
 
 Capriles responded via Twitter Tuesday by calling Maduro a liar. 
 
 "Lie after lie in every speech," he said. 
 
 According to Venezuela's Constitution, elections were to be called if the president could not be sworn in on Jan. 10, but a Supreme Court packed with Chavez loyalists said that wasn't necessary. 
 
 The campaigning, though undeclared, has nevertheless already begun. Maduro has frequently commandeered all broadcast channels, Chavez-style, to tout the "revolution" and vilify the opposition. 
 
 Chavez has run Venezuela for more than 14 years as a virtual one-man show, gradually placing all state institutions under his personal control. But the former army paratroop commander, who rose to fame by launching a failed 1992 coup, never groomed a successor with his same kind of force of personality. 
 
 Maduro said last week that the president had begun receiving chemotherapy around the end of January. 
 
 Doctors have said such therapy is not necessarily to beat Chavez's cancer into remission, but could have been palliative, to extend Chavez's life and ease his suffering. 
 
 Dr. Carlos Castro, scientific director of the Colombian League Against Cancer, said "it's difficult to predict" when Chavez might die, but he believes "it's a matter of days." 
 
 Castro said Chavez could face further respiratory complications if he receives more intense chemotherapy treatment. 
 
 If the president's medical team "gives him strong chemotherapy again, then it would not be surprising if some infections reappear," Castro said in a telephone interview. 
 
 While in Cuba, Chavez suffered a severe respiratory infection in late December that nearly killed him, Maduro said last week. A tracheal tube was inserted then, and government officials have said his breathing remained labored. 
 
 Libardo Rodriguez, a 60-year-old orange juice vendor, said he was very worried after Monday evening's announcement and the government should provide more information about Chavez. 
 
 "We are worried because he does not appear. The truth is that I don't know what's happening," said Rodriguez, who identified himself as a Chavez supporter. 
 
 "There are many rumors and nobody knows who to believe," he said. "We hope he's alive." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
– Venezuela has booted two US diplomats after accusing them of espionage and plotting to destabilize the country. With Hugo Chavez clinging to life, it was Vice President Nicolas Maduro who today announced the government's move. He said one of the Americans, identified as an Air Force attache named David Delmonaco, had been meeting with military officers, spying on the military, and plotting against the government, reports the AP. Venezuela later said a second Air Force attache, still unidentified, also was being expelled on espionage charges. That wasn't all the bluster from Maduro in comments made to reporters today, notes CNN: He asserted that the "scientific proof" would one day emerge to prove that Chavez was poisoned by "the historical enemies of our heartland." He likened the poisoning to what happened to Yasser Arafat. (Update: Maduro announced the death of Chavez hours after making the accusations.)