Latin America

Chavez to lie in state for 7 more days: Venezuelan VP

Chavez
The body of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be embalmed and put on display after his funeral, Vice President Nicolas Maduro says.

Maduro said on Thursday that the body of the former president would be embalmed “like Lenin”, the Russian revolutionary leader, and would be displayed in a glass coffin for an extra week at a military museum in Caracas after a state funeral, AFP reported.

Thirty-three heads of government, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are to attend the state funeral scheduled for Friday.

Maduro said the decision to have the president lie in state for another seven days was taken to allow Venezuelans who are waiting in long lines to be able to pay their respects to the late president.

More than two million mourners have already filed past Chavez’s body at the military academy in Caracas, where he is lying in state.

Venezuela’s acting president also declared seven additional days of mourning. The South American nation has already been in a seven-day mourning in the wake of the death of Chavez, who passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.

Chavez was born in a poor family on July 28, 1954 in Sabaneta, Barinas state, Venezuela.

He graduated from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in 1975.

Chavez became involved in revolutionary movements within the armed forces in 1977.

In 1992, he led a failed attempt to overthrow the government of President Carlos Andres Perez and was jailed for two years. Despite the fact that the coup failed, the incident launched his political career.

Chavez toured the country, electrified Venezuelans with his speeches, and won his first presidential election in 1998. He also won presidential elections in 2000, 2006, and 2012.

In 2002, a group of opposition politicians and troops backed by the United States staged a coup against Chavez. He was arrested and sent to a military base on a Caribbean island.

However, just two days later, the efforts of loyal military officers and massive demonstrations by Venezuelans swept him back to power.

Chavez founded the Bolivarian Revolution to establish popular democracy and economic independence and equitably distribute wealth in Latin America.

He was one of the key players in the progressive movement that has swept across Latin America over the past few years.

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