"Diosdado Cabello, a key ally whose biography is similar to Chavez's, would be a stronger bet" than Maduro to defeat Capriles, said Daniel Greenberg, a professor of history and founder of the Institute of Latin American Service and Studies at Pace University in New York. "If Capriles wins, Chavez's reforms will most likely be scaled back rather than dismantled. Either way, Venezuela without Chavez will be a vastly different place."

At the United Nations, the Security Council held a minute of silence in Chavez's honor.

It was at a U.N. General Assembly meeting in 2006 that Chavez bluntly referred to his U.S. counterpart, former President George W. Bush, who had addressed the world body the day before from the same lectern, as "the devil." "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said. "And it smells of sulfur still today."