Venezuela ex-president Perez dies in Miami

CARACAS: Former Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez, who nationalized the oil industry and then survived a coup attempt by future leader Hugo Chavez, has died in Miami, his daughter told local media.

As a two-term president, Perez led Venezuela through rising fortunes as well as deeply turbulent times -- including the country's worst-ever riots that left hundreds dead in 1989 after he initiated economic reforms -- and eventually was driven out of office on corruption allegations.
Maria Francia Perez told that her 88-year-old father, who had been living in the United States for the past decade, passed away unexpectedly at 2:41 pm (1841 GMT) on Christmas Day of an apparent heart attack.

"It was very sudden. He woke up in very good spirits this December 25th. He was very chatty; he was talking to us," she said.

But by mid-afternoon her father was gone, she said, dying "from one moment to the next."

The leftist leader governed Venezuela twice: from 1974 to 1979 and 1989-1993.