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| The flag-draped coffin containing the body of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez is taken from the hospital where he died, to a military academy where it will remain until his funeral in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 6, 2013. Seven days of mourning were declared, all schools were suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected for an elaborate funeral Friday. |
CARACAS,
Venezuela (AP) -- By the hundreds of thousands, Hugo Chavez's
tearful supporters carried their dead president through streets still
plastered with his smiling image, an epic farewell to a larger-than-life
leader remembered simply as "our commander."
In
a display of raw, and at times, unruly emotion, generations of
Venezuelans, many dressed in the red of Chavez's socialist party, filled
Caracas' streets Wednesday to remember the man who dominated their
country for 14 years before succumbing to cancer.
Chavez's
flag-draped coffin floated over hundreds of thousands of supporters as
it made its way atop an open hearse on a seven-hour journey to a
military academy in the capital, where it will lie in state. Mourners,
many of them weeping, lined the streets or walked with the casket, which
followed the lead of a grim drum major dressed in Chavez's trademark
red.
Mourners shouted out "nuestro comandante" - "our commander," in English - as the coffin passed.
But
even amid the mass outpouring of grief, questions about the country's
future could not be put off for long, with worries amplified by the
government's lack of regard for the letter of the constitution, and the
military's eagerness to choose political sides.
Vice
President Nicolas Maduro, the late president's hand-picked successor,
and Bolivian President Evo Morales, one of his staunchest allies,
mingled with the crowd, at one point falling to the ground in the jostle
of bodies pushing in every direction. Military officers and Cabinet
members ringed the president's coffin, stone-faced with grief.
Other
mourners pumped their fists and held aloft images of the late
president, amid countless waving yellow, blue and red Venezuelan flags.
"The fight goes on! Chavez lives!" the mourners shouted in unison, many through eyes red from crying late into the night.
Chavez's
bereaved mother, Elena Frias de Chavez, leaned against her son's
casket, while a priest read a prayer before the procession left the
military hospital where Chavez died Tuesday at age 58. His funeral is
scheduled for Friday.
"I feel so much pain. So
much pain," said Yamile Gil, a 38-year-old housewife. "We never wanted
to see our president like this. We will always love him."
Others
who bitterly opposed Chavez's take-no-prisoners brand of socialism said
they were sorry about his death, but hopeful it would usher in a less
confrontational, more business-friendly era in this major oil-producing
country. Under his leadership, the state expropriated key industries,
raised taxes on the rich and forced many opponents into exile.
"I
am not happy that he has died, but I can't be sad either," said Delia
Ramirez, a 32-year-old accountant who stayed away from the procession.
"This man sowed hatred and division among Venezuelans."
Even
as Chavistas said their goodbyes, a sense of foreboding gripped the
country as it awaited word on what might come next. Many Venezuelans,
fearful of possible violence, stocked up on food and fuel as the country
pondered whether the former paratrooper's socialist agenda would
survive him, and for how long.
The 1999
constitution that Chavez himself pushed through mandates that elections
be called within 30 days, but Chavez's top lieutenants have not always
stuck to the letter of the law.
The charter
clearly states that the speaker of the National Assembly, in this case
Diosdado Cabello, should become interim president if a head of state is
forced to leave office within three years of his election. Chavez was
re-elected only in October.
But Chavez
anointed Maduro for that role, and the vice president has assumed the
mantle even as the government announced he would represent the ruling
socialist party in the presidential vote.
Some
took to Twitter to denounce the move, citing Article 233 of the
constitution, which establishes Cabello as the rightful president.
The
military also appears to be showing firm support for Maduro, despite a
constitutional mandate that it play no role in politics. In a late-night
tweet, Venezuelan state television said Defense Minister Adm. Diego
Molero had pledged military support for Maduro's candidacy against
likely opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, raising concern among
critics about the fairness of the vote.
Capriles,
the 40-year-old governor of Miranda state who lost to Chavez in
October, was conciliatory in a televised address Tuesday.
"This
is not the moment to highlight what separates us," Capriles said. "This
is not the hour for differences; it is the hour for union, it is the
hour for peace."
Other opposition leaders were more critical of the military stance.
"When
all Venezuela wants unity and peace, and a climate of respect between
Venezuelans predominates, they're contrasted by what's unacceptable, the
declarations of the minister of defense, that are, besides false,
unconstitutional," said Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, executive secretary of
the opposition coalition.
If elected, Maduro
would still face a stiff challenge replacing the ultra-charismatic
Chavez, who parlayed a folksy nationalism and stiff resolve into a
virtual one-man government, maintaining support among the poor despite
food shortages, rampant crime and inflation topping 20 percent.
Cynthia
Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Washington-based
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Maduro won't be
able to harness "Chavismo" as Chavez did so successfully, but she
expects him to win any upcoming presidential vote.
"There's really no one who can step into those shoes," she said.
The
next administration must also control a ballooning public debt that has
quadrupled to $102 billion since Chavez took office in 1999, despite
Venezuela's booming oil exports.
Maduro's Jeckle-and-Hyde-like behavior Tuesday has stoked worries about a future government.
He
used a speech just before Chavez's death to lash out at the United
States and internal opponents he accused of plotting to destabilize the
government. He pointed to shadowy forces as being behind the president's
cancer and expelled two American military attaches he charged with
spying.
In a speech later announcing the
death, a shaken and somber Maduro called for peace, love and
reconciliation among all Venezuelans.
Many
mourners at Wednesday's procession took their cue from the more virulent
Maduro speech, venting anger at Washington and accusing Venezuela's
opposition of conspiring with far-right U.S. forces to undermine the
revolution.
"The government of the United
States is not going to rest," said Oscar Navas, a 33-year-old fruit
vendor and Chavez supporter who joined the procession. "It's going to
continue conspiring against our revolution because we are
anti-imperialists. I don't have the slightest doubt the CIA is here,
undercover, doing whatever it can to destabilize our country."
Venezuela
and the United States have a complicated relationship, with Chavez's
enemy to the north remaining the top buyer of Venezuelan oil. But
Chavez's inner circle has long claimed the United States was behind a
failed 2002 attempt to overthrow him, and he has frequently used
anti-American rhetoric to stir up support. Venezuela has been without a
U.S. ambassador since July 2010 and expelled a U.S. military officer in
2006.
In Washington, senior Obama
administration officials said Wednesday they hoped to rebuild the
U.S.-Venezuelan relationship in the wake of Chavez's death, but
acknowledged that sudden rapprochement was unlikely given the Latin
American country's upcoming presidential election.
The
officials said the most important steps for Venezuela right now are
maintaining security and ensuring free and fair elections for a new
leader, but they had no specific concerns about the security of American
officials or U.S. citizens in Venezuela. They described talks with
Venezuela's police and military as going well.
Still,
they expressed displeasure with the expulsion of two U.S. military
officials in Venezuela and Maduro's accusations that the U.S. was
somehow responsible for Chavez's cancer.
"Yesterday's first press conference was not encouraging," a senior official said. "It disappointed us."
She and the other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The U.S. is still reviewing whether to take reciprocal action for the expulsion of the American attaches, the officials said.
