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| A large image of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez is on display where mourners line up to view his body lying in state at the military academy in Caracas, Thursday, March 7, 2013. While Venezuela remains deeply divided over the country's future, the multitudes weeping and crossing themselves as they reached the president's coffin early Thursday were united in grief and admiration for a man many considered a father figure. |
CARACAS,
Venezuela (AP) -- Hugo Chavez's body will be preserved and forever
displayed inside a glass tomb at a military museum not far from the
presidential palace from which he ruled for 14 years, his successor
announced Thursday in a Caribbean version of the treatment given
Communist revolutionary leaders like Lenin, Mao and Ho Chi Minh.
Vice
President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's acting head of state, said Chavez
would first lie in state for "at least" seven more days at the museum,
which will eventually become his permanent home. It was not clear when
exactly he would be moved from the military academy where his body has
been since Wednesday.
A state funeral will be
held Friday attended by 33 heads of government, including Cuban
President Raul Castro and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. U.S. Rep.
Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, and former Rep. William Delahunt, a
Democrat from Massachusetts, will represent the United States, which
Chavez often portrayed as a great global evil even as he sent the
country billions of dollars in oil each year.
Maduro said the ceremony would begin at 11 a.m., but did not say where.
"We
have decided to prepare the body of our `Comandante President,' to
embalm it so that it remains open for all time for the people. Just like
Ho Chi Minh. Just like Lenin. Just like Mao Zedong," Maduro said.
He
said the body would be held in a "crystal urn" at the Museum of the
Revolution, a stone's throw from Miraflores presidential palace.
The
announcement followed two emotional days in which Chavez's supporters
compared him to Jesus Christ, and accused his national and international
critics of subversion.
A sea of sobbing,
heartbroken humanity jammed Venezuela's main military academy Thursday
to see Chavez's body, some waiting 10 hours under the twinkling stars
and the searing Caribbean sun to file past his coffin.
But
even as his supporters attempted to immortalize the dead president, a
country exhausted from round-the-clock mourning began to look toward the
future. Some worried openly whether the nation's anointed leaders are
up to the task of filling his shoes, and others said they were anxious
for news on when elections will be held. The constitution mandates they
be called within 30 days, but the government has yet to address the
matter.
"People are beginning to get back to
their lives. One must keep working," said 40-year-old Caracas resident
Laura Guerra, a Chavez supporter who said she was not yet sold on
Maduro, the acting head of state and designated ruling party candidate.
"I don't think he will be the same. I don't think he has the same
strength that the `comandante' had."
At the
military academy, Chavez lay in a glass-covered coffin wearing the
olive-green military uniform and red beret of his paratrooper days and
looking gaunt and pale, his lips pressed together. In a nod to the
insecurity that plagues this country, mourners had to submit to a pat
down, pass through a metal detector and remove the batteries from their
mobile phones before they entered.
As they
reached the coffin, many placed a hand on their heart or stiffly
saluted. Some held up children so they could see Chavez's face.
"I
waited 10 hours to see him, but I am very happy, proud to have seen my
comandante," said 46-year-old Yudeth Hurtado, sobbing. "He is planted in
our heart."
Government leaders had been
largely incommunicado Wednesday as they marched in a seven-hour
procession that brought Chavez's body from a military hospital to the
academy. They finally emerged before the cameras Thursday but offered no
answers.
Asked when an election would be
held, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said only that the
constitution would be followed. He continued to refer to Maduro as "vice
president," though he also said the rest of the government was united
in helping him lead the country.
The foreign
minister also struck the defiant, us-against-the-world tone the
government has projected, which some critics fear could incite passions
in a country that remains on edge.
"They
couldn't defeat him electorally, they couldn't assassinate him, they
couldn't beat him militarily," Jaua declared. "Chavez died as president
... Chavez died the leader of his people."
Just
hours before the 58-year-old president's death on Tuesday, Maduro
expelled two U.S. diplomats and lashed out at opponents at home and
abroad. He implied that the cancer that ultimately killed Chavez was
somehow injected into him by his enemies, a charge echoed by
Ahmadinejad.
While Maduro is the clear
favorite over likely opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, the nation
is polarized between Chavez supporters and critics who hold him
responsible for soaring inflation, a growing national debt and a jump in
violent crime.
Opponents have also questioned
the government's allegiance to the rule of law, arguing that Maduro is
not entitled to become interim president under the 1999 constitution.
They have also criticized the defense minister, Adm. Diego Molero, for
pledging support for Maduro's candidacy despite a ban on the military
taking political sides.
Ana Teresa Sifontes, a
71-year-old housewife and opposition sympathizer, said Chavez did some
good things for the nation's poor. But she said he had mismanaged the
economy and showed more interest in regional grandstanding than
governing.
She said she hoped his death would bring change.
"Why
do we have to pay for Cuba?" she asked, referring to the billions in
Venezuelan oil Chavez sent to Havana each year in return for Cuban
doctors and other experts. "Why do we need them here?"
Venezuelan
officials have yet to say what type of cancer he suffered from, but
details were emerging of the former paratrooper's final hours.
The
head of Venezuela's presidential guard, Gen. Jose Ornella, told the AP
late Wednesday that Chavez died of a massive heart attack after great
suffering.
"He couldn't speak but he said it
with his lips ... `I don't want to die. Please don't let me die,'
because he loved his country, he sacrificed himself for his country,"
said Ornella, who said he was with the socialist president at the moment
of his death Tuesday.
In Washington, State
Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. hoped the upcoming
vote would be held on a level playing field, and lamented the expulsion
of the American officials.
"We are obviously
disappointed by these false accusations levied against our embassy
officials," Nuland said. "This is part of a tired playbook of alleging
foreign interference as a political football in internal Venezuelan
politics."
