The Venezuelan government said Tuesday it will launch a formal inquiry to probe charges that late President Hugo Chavez’s cancer was caused by his foreign enemies

The Venezuelan government said Tuesday it will launch a formal inquiry to probe charges that late President Hugo Chavez’s cancer was caused by his foreign enemies.

Acting President Nicolas Maduro promised to launch an inquest into the claims made by many people, including Chavez, that the former Venezuelan leader’s cancer was the result of poisoning.

"We will seek the truth," Maduro said. "We have the intuition that our commander Chavez was poisoned by dark forces that wanted him out of the way."

He added that the government will invite foreign scientists to join a state committee to probe the accusations.

On March 5, Chavez died after a two-year battle with cancer.

Hours before Chavez’s death, Maduro stated that someday there will be "scientific proof" that the socialist leader was infected with cancer by "imperialist" enemies.

"We have no doubt that commander Chavez was attacked with this illness," he stated. "The old enemies of our fatherland looked for a way to harm his health," he noted.