BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Venezuelan government says acting President, Nicolas Maduro, will set up a formal inquiry into claims that late President Hugo Chavez’s cancer was the result of poisoning by foreign agencies.

Chavez’s handpicked successor, Nicolas Maduro, has told regional TV network Telesur that the government will seek the truth. He spoke of his suspicion regarding the cause of Chavez’s illness and death. Maduro has said that foreign scientists will be invited to probe the claim.

The investigation was first prompted by Chavez himself after being diagnosed with cancer in 2011. However, opponents say the government’s intention was to feed fears of "imperialist" threats to Venezuela’s socialist system and to distract people from the country's domestic problems.

(Source: CNTV.cn)