Venezuelans consolidated in grief for a man many called a father
Source: Agencies |
March 8, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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THEY filed past all night and into the morning, a line of mourners more than a kilometer long hoping for one final glimpse of Hugo Chavez. While Venezuela remains divided over the country's future, the multitudes weeping and crossing themselves as they reached the president's coffin yesterday were united in grief and admiration for a man many considered a father figure.
Cannon boomed a salute each hour, the only interruption to what seemed an endless procession as hundreds of thousands filed past, with countless more still to come.
"I waited 10 hours to see him, but I am very happy, proud to have seen my comandante," said 46-year-old Yudeth Hurtado, who was sobbing. "He is planted in our heart."
Mourners had to submit to a pat down, pass through a metal detector and remove the batteries from their mobile phones upon entering the military academy where Chavez is lying in state until his funeral today.
Several Latin American leaders have already arrived for the funeral, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced he, too, will attend.
At the military academy, Chavez lay in a glass-covered coffin wearing his olive-green military uniform and red beret.
As they reached the coffin, many placed a hand on their heart or saluted. Ricardo Tria, a social worker, said he waited nearly four hours to pass by the casket. Chavez looked "asleep, quiet, serious," he said.
As a band played the anthem of his first battalion, Chavez's coffin was displayed at the academy after an emotion-drenched procession through Caracas on Wednesday. Generations of Venezuelans, many dressed in the red of Chavez's socialist party, filled the capital's streets to remember the man who dominated their country for 14 years before succumbing on Tuesday afternoon after a fight with cancer.
The coffin was carried through the crowds atop an open hearse on an 8-kilometer journey that wound through the city's north and southeast, into many of the poorer neighborhoods where Chavez drew his political strength.
At the academy, Chavez's family and close advisers, as well as the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay, attended a funeral Mass.
The head of Venezuela's presidential guard, General Jose Ornella, said 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," Ornella said.
Set against the outpouring of grief was near-total official silence on when the election will take place. Even the exact time and place of Chavez's funeral had not been announced, nor where he will be laid to rest.
Opponents have stepped up criticism of the government's moves after Chavez's death, including naming Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked successor, as acting president in apparent violation of the constitution.
Cannon boomed a salute each hour, the only interruption to what seemed an endless procession as hundreds of thousands filed past, with countless more still to come.
"I waited 10 hours to see him, but I am very happy, proud to have seen my comandante," said 46-year-old Yudeth Hurtado, who was sobbing. "He is planted in our heart."
Mourners had to submit to a pat down, pass through a metal detector and remove the batteries from their mobile phones upon entering the military academy where Chavez is lying in state until his funeral today.
Several Latin American leaders have already arrived for the funeral, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced he, too, will attend.
At the military academy, Chavez lay in a glass-covered coffin wearing his olive-green military uniform and red beret.
As they reached the coffin, many placed a hand on their heart or saluted. Ricardo Tria, a social worker, said he waited nearly four hours to pass by the casket. Chavez looked "asleep, quiet, serious," he said.
As a band played the anthem of his first battalion, Chavez's coffin was displayed at the academy after an emotion-drenched procession through Caracas on Wednesday. Generations of Venezuelans, many dressed in the red of Chavez's socialist party, filled the capital's streets to remember the man who dominated their country for 14 years before succumbing on Tuesday afternoon after a fight with cancer.
The coffin was carried through the crowds atop an open hearse on an 8-kilometer journey that wound through the city's north and southeast, into many of the poorer neighborhoods where Chavez drew his political strength.
At the academy, Chavez's family and close advisers, as well as the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay, attended a funeral Mass.
The head of Venezuela's presidential guard, General Jose Ornella, said 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," Ornella said.
Set against the outpouring of grief was near-total official silence on when the election will take place. Even the exact time and place of Chavez's funeral had not been announced, nor where he will be laid to rest.
Opponents have stepped up criticism of the government's moves after Chavez's death, including naming Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked successor, as acting president in apparent violation of the constitution.
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