Chavez leads Diamondbacks over Braves

Phoenix, AZ –  Eric Chavez went 2-for-3 and recorded two of his three RBI during a four-run fifth inning that paved the way for the Arizona Diamondbacks' 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves in the finale of a three-game set.

Didi Gregorius and Cody Ross each drove in a run during the rally, which made a winner out of Ian Kennedy (2-3), who had given up two runs in his fifth and final inning.

He struck out seven and allowed three runs in all on five hits. It's Kennedy's first victory since defeating the St. Louis Cardinals on Opening Day.

Heath Bell worked around a one-out double in the ninth to notch his sixth save and give the D'backs the series victory. Arizona has won seven of its last 10 games.

Tim Hudson (4-3) couldn't stop the bleeding for Atlanta, which is just 10-17 since its 12-1 start to the season. The righty was tagged for all five runs on eight hits over five frames.

"Just losing two out of three, you feel like we won a couple of those games because of the way we hit the ball," said Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez.

Freddie Freeman went 3-for-4 and plated all three runs for the Braves.

The Diamondbacks had just five hits in their last 56 tries with runners in scoring position coming into the contest, but matched that hit total during Wednesday's performance on eight chances.

"We just try and get good at-bats, for some reason we're not pushing a lot of runs across the board right now," said Chavez. "But that's going to change, just keep swinging the bats, have good approaches and put some runs on the board."

After putting Arizona in a two-run hole in the fifth, Kennedy was pinch-hit for in the bottom half by Jason Kubel, whose one-out walk sparked a four-run inning.

Gerardo Parra followed with a single and Gregorius pounded one up the middle to plate a run. Two batters later, Chavez ripped a double to center to put the D'backs back in front before Ross made it 5-3 with an RBI single into right.

Paul Goldschmidt ripped his first of three doubles on the day in the first inning and Chavez gave the D'backs a 1-0 lead when he grounded a base hit past the diving reach of shortstop Andrelton Simmons.

Kennedy was cruising along until he surrendered a pair of two out singles in the third and then threw eight straight balls in walking Justin Upton and Freeman to force in a run.

Freeman came to bat again in the fifth, and with runners on first and second, sent a double in the gap in center field to clear the bags and stake Atlanta to a 3-1 edge.

Hudson, though, couldn't hold the lead. He gave it right back in the bottom half as eight Diamondbacks came to plate before getting out of the frame behind by two runs.

Game Notes

Hudson suffered his career defeat to the Diamondbacks. He was 7-0 in nine career outings coming in ... The Braves have lost five of their last six games ... Atlanta was just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position ... Arizona had 10 hits and scored more than three runs for the first time in five games.

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Jesse Jackson Sr. to attend Hugo Chavez funeral in Caracas

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. will be attending the state funeral for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday in Caracas, the nation's capital.

Jackson, founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, will be leading a delegation organized by the civil rights organization -- which is separate from the official U.S. delegation.

"I had the opportunity to know President Chavez in a direct and personal way," Jackson Sr. said in a statement to Fox News. "I extend my deepest condolences to his family and along with people around the globe, am deeply saddened by his passing."

According to a Jackson aide traveling with the civil rights leader, he is scheduled to arrive Thursday night.

Jackson Sr. was presented with the Liberator's Award by Chavez in 2005, and spoke to the Venezuelan Parliament as part of the ceremony.

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Carter praises Chavez for 'improving the lives of millions'

While President Obama called the death of Venezuela strongman Hugo Chavez a chance for a "new chapter" in the Latin American country's history, former President Carter instead praised the strongman's "commitment to improving the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen."

News on Tuesday of Chavez's death after a battle with cancer generally was greeted with a mixture of relief and hope in Washington, where Chavez has long been a persona non grata. But Carter and at least one Democratic congressman instead publically mourned the socialist president.

Carter, offering "condolences" to Chavez's family, said he and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, met him during his first presidential campaign in 1998.

"We came to know a man who expressed a vision to bring profound changes to his country to benefit especially those people who had felt neglected and marginalized," he said. "Although we have not agreed with all of the methods followed by his government, we have never doubted Hugo Chavez's commitment to improving the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen."

Carter said Chavez's "bold" leadership helped cut poverty rates and integrate Venezuelans into public life. Left unsaid was how much the country's oil boom contributed to those advances, and some critics have said Chavez squandered the opportunity to put those proceeds to better use. Inflation and crime, meanwhile, have soared.

Chavez was criticized for unprecedented power grabs at home, and much of the disdain felt toward him in the U.S. came from his willingness to ridicule America's leaders, from Bush to Obama.

"We recognize the divisions created in the drive towards change in Venezuela and the need for national healing," Carter said. "We hope that as Venezuelans mourn the passing of President Chavez and recall his positive legacies — especially the gains made for the poor and vulnerable — the political leaders will move the country forward by building a new consensus that ensures equal opportunities for all Venezuelans to participate in every aspect of national life."

Democratic New York Rep. Jose Serrano, too, spoke highly of Chavez, based on the Venezuelan leader's visit to Serrano's district in 2005.

"Though President Chavez was accused of many things, it is important to remember that he was democratically elected many times in elections that were declared free and fair by international monitors," Serrano said. "President Chavez was a controversial leader. But at his core he was a man who came from very little and used his unique talents and gifts to try to lift up the people and the communities that reflected his impoverished roots. ... He understood democracy and basic human desires for a dignified life."

That statement drew a swift retort from Republicans.

“It’s simply insulting that a Democrat congressman would praise the authoritarian ruler Hugo Chavez. Chavez systematically cracked down on the basic freedom and liberties of Venezuelans, nationalized private industries and befriended anti-American dictators like Castro, Ahmadinejad, and Assad," Republican National Committee spokesperson Alexandra Franceschi said. "Americans should stand together with the freedom loving people of Venezuela as they hope for a peaceful transition to a democracy, instead of praising the former dictator."

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Jesse Jackson Sr. to attend Hugo Chavez funeral in Caracas

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. will be attending the state funeral for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday in Caracas, the nation's capital.

Jackson, founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, will be leading a delegation organized by the civil rights organization -- which is separate from the official U.S. delegation.

"I had the opportunity to know President Chavez in a direct and personal way," Jackson Sr. said in a statement to Fox News. "I extend my deepest condolences to his family and along with people around the globe, am deeply saddened by his passing."

According to a Jackson aide traveling with the civil rights leader, he is scheduled to arrive Thursday night.

Jackson Sr. was presented with the Liberator's Award by Chavez in 2005, and spoke to the Venezuelan Parliament as part of the ceremony.

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Chavez body to be permanently displayed

CARACAS, Venezuela –  Venezuela's acting president says Hugo Chavez's embalmed body will be permanently displayed in a glass casket so that "his people will always have him."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro says the remains will be put on permanent display at the Museum of the Revolution, close to the presidential palace where Chavez ruled for 14 years. Maduro says the president will lie in state first for at least another seven days.

A state funeral for Chavez attended by some 33 heads of government is scheduled to begin Friday morning. Tens of thousands have already filed past his glass-topped casket at a military academy following a seven-hour procession on Tuesday which took his body from the hospital where he died.

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Venezuelan voices: Life after Hugo Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela –  Thoughts of Venezuelans two days after the death of President Hugo Chavez:

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"We've lost one of the greatest men of all time. ... It's a tragedy for Venezuela, especially the poor." — Humberto Vasquez, a 47-year-old primary school teacher who waited 10 hours to view the leader's body.

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"I love Chavez and always will, but I'm tired. I really wanted to see him, but I have three kids at home who need me." — Yajira Molina, a 23-year-old waitress and single mother who decided to go back home after she waited for three hours and still saw thousands of people ahead of her in the line.

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"We must think about the future and how we are going to guarantee the continuity of the revolution." — Rolando Tarazon, street vendor who was waiting with his wife to see Chavez's body.

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"I come saying that as of Mr. Chavez that he hasn't mattered for a while, since December really, and that what is important is his legacy and his legacy of hate, violence, confrontation, an economy in an almost terminal state, insecurity, awful relations with the international community." — Diego Arria, former Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations.

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"We will put Nicolas Maduro in the presidency. That was the order of my comandante, and like soldiers of the fatherland we must follow orders." — Noris Estacio, a 46-year-old teacher.

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"He acted like no other president. He opened our eyes. We were tricked by all the previous governments that never took the poor into account." — Juana Gutierrez, a 50-year-old national library employee standing outside the National Pantheon, where the remains of Simon Bolivar are kept.

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Associated Press writers Christopher Toothaker, Jorge Rueda and Eduardo Castillo contributed to this report.

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Venezuela diplomat reads letter from ailing Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela –  Venezuela's foreign minister read a lengthy letter from ailing President Hugo Chavez on Friday to a gathering of African and South American leaders in Equatorial Guinea.

In the letter, read on television by Foreign Minister Elias Jaua, Chavez said he was sorry not to be able to attend the meeting.

Chavez hasn't spoken publicly since before he underwent his latest cancer surgery on Dec. 11, and even written statements have been rare. Government officials have said Chavez is breathing through a tracheal tube, but they have also shown a few letters and other documents with his signature.

In the letter, which ran for about 1,500 words, Chavez denounced Western intervention in Africa and reiterated his criticisms of NATO's military involvement in Libya in 2011, when his ally Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed.

Chavez also called for more "South-South cooperation" and said of Africa and South America, "We are the same people."

The letter ended with the words: "We will live and be triumphant!"

Last month, Vice President Nicolas Maduro read a similarly lengthy letter from Chavez to leaders at a summit in Chile.

The Venezuelan government provided an update on Chavez's condition Thursday night, saying that he remained at a military hospital in Caracas and that "the medical treatment for the fundamental illness continues without presenting significant adverse effects."

The government has not given details about the treatment Chavez is undergoing, and hasn't identified the type or exact location of the tumors that have been removed from his pelvic region.

Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read the statement on television, saying that a "respiratory insufficiency" that arose in the weeks after the surgery "persists and its tendency has not been favorable, thus it continues to be treated."

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