Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced the end of diplomatic relations with Panama because of a “conspiracy” against him. <br /><br /> Maduro announced the move in a speech marking the anniversary of Venezuela’s late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.<br /><br /> A year after Chavez succumbed to cancer, Maduro paid an emotional tribute to the former leader.<br /><br /> “Never before has there existed a defender that gave the poor and working people their rights. That gave them education, culture, work; that gave them dignity; that gave them conscience. Hugo Chavez has passed to history as the defender of the poor of Venezuela and the defender of the poor in America,” said the president.<br /><br /> But Maduro is facing the biggest challenge to his rule: violent anti-government demonstrations that have led to 18 deaths since February.<br /><br /> Protesters gathered in Caracas on Wednesday. High crime rates and food shortages are behind much of the anger.
