Successor, a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba

Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan vice-president and the successor of Hugo Chavez, was a follower of Sathya Sai Baba. According to sources, Maduro had visited Baba at his ashram in Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Though sources could not recall the details of the conversation Maduro had with Sathya Sai Baba, they said that the death of Baba was discussed in the Venezuela Parliament at the behest of Maduro. Sathya Sai Baba died due to multi-organ failure on April 24, 2011.
Maduro is said to have visited Baba at his ashram in 2005 along with his wife Flores.

“There are photographs of Maduro sitting on the floor in front of Baba during his visit. We also heard that he had attended a spiritual lecture given by Baba,” the source said.
The source said Maduro was given a large, framed photograph of Sathya Sai Baba and the photograph was hung on a wall in Maduro’s office.

“There used to be a bee-line of the heads of states and prominent personalities in Puttaparthi and they all used to wait for Baba’s darshan. Maduro was also one of them in those days,” the source explained. In a statement, Sathya Sai Central Trust confirmed that Maduro had visited Puttaparthi during his tenure as the foreign affairs minister of Venezuela.