Former Guyana President Janet Jagan, a major political force in this small South American nation, died on Saturday at age 88, officials said.

She became Guyana's first white and first female president in 1997 after the death of her husband, former President Cheddi Jagan.

Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy said she died of an abdominal aneurysm after being admitted to a hospital in the capital, Georgetown.

"Her life story and her work will inspire generations of Guyanese for a long time," Ramsammy said.

Born Janet Rosenberg in Chicago in 1920, she married Jagan and moved to Guyana in 1943. The former journalist was an advocate for the rights of women and workers throughout the Caribbean and in Guyana, an ex-British colony.