Nicolas Maduro was sworn in as president of Venezuela on Friday, taking the oath of office in the memory of the late Hugo Chavez to cheers in the National Assembly. "I swear it before the eternal memory of the supreme commander," he said after being read the oath by National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello. Cheers broke out in the packed assembly as the presidential sash was placed over the 50-year-old Maduro, who was elected president Sunday in snap elections to replace Chavez, who died of cancer on March 5 after 14 years in power.

(Reuters) - Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in as Venezuela's president on Friday after a decision to widen an electronic audit of the vote took some of the heat out of a dispute over his election victory. The 50-year-old Maduro was also a union leader before joining Chavez's government, eventually rising to become his foreign minister and then vice-president. Chavez named him as his preferred successor before dying from cancer last month.

Nicolas Maduro succeeds the late Hugo Chavez as Venezuela's new president Friday, hosting a lavish inauguration after defusing opposition demands for a vote recount and winning the approval of fellow Latin American leaders. Maduro flew home from Lima, Peru where a summit of South American presidents congratulated him on his victory in snap elections Sunday, shortly after Venezuela's National Election Council yielded to demands for an expanded audit of the results.

Venezuela's President-elect Nicolas Maduro flew to a South American summit in Peru Thursday, seeking international support on the eve of his inauguration amid a crisis over demands for a recount. Maduro smiled and appeared relaxed at his arrival in Lima before the meeting with presidents from across the region who were convened for a special session on the political impasse in his oil-rich OPEC nation. "We are going to take the truth about Venezuela" to the meeting, Maduro said in a nationally broadcast speech before leaving.