Is it a coincidence that four leaders died on March 5 and March 6?

Fri Mar 15, 2013

Editor: The passing of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on March 5, 2013 has prompted me to research the dates of death of leftist leaders the world over, and from my research, I am wondering if there was a coincidence that four leaders died on March 5 and March 6.{{more}}

The first was Josef Stalin, the Soviet communist leader who was accused of killing millions, who died on March 5, 1953; and on March 6, 1997, 44 years later, two of his left wing supporters (I dare not say to the extent of Stalin), Cheddi Jagan, former President of Guyana, and Michael Manley former Prime Minister of Jamaica, passed away; and Hugo Chavez, leftwing President of Venezuela, died of a heart attack on March 5, 2013, following reports of his battle with cancer.

Chavez was only 58. He was born less than two years after the demise of one of the world’s most feared dictators. Stalin, who was born in December 1879, died in 1953, at the ripe age of 74. Dr Jagan passed two weeks before his 80th birthday and Manley, a keen cricketer, was dismissed at 72. Manley was not a hardcore socialist, but was deemed a leftist because he was close to Fidel Castro and spoke out against US President Ronald Reagan for invading Grenada.

March 6 was also a significant date, because on that date in 1957, Ghana became the first African state to gain independence from Britain. It was known as Ghana Day. What was also a coincidence was that on May 1 (Labour Day) 1845, Germany announced the death of dictator Adolph Hitler, who murdered six million Jews and on the same date, 66 years later (in 2011), Osama Bin Laden, the world’s most wanted man, the terrorist who was responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans, was killed in Pakistan.

Oscar Ramjeet