Venezuelans in mourning for their adored leader
Source: Agencies |
March 7, 2013, Thursday
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The coffin of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was brought out of a military hospital onto the streets of Caracas yesterday, where grieving multitudes gathered to honor him.
Soldiers placed the coffin on a car, where it was driven outside of the hospital. "Chavez to the pantheon!" shouted supporters, referring to a mausoleum he had built to house the remains of independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Authorities have not said where Chavez will be buried after tomorrow's state funeral.
The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists' candidate in an election to be called within 30 days.
Foreign Minister Elias Jaua confirmed that just hours after Maduro, tears running down his face, announced the death of Chavez, the larger-than-life former paratroop officer who had presided over Venezuela for more than 14 years.
Considerable funereal pageantry was expected to honor Chavez, the political impresario widely adored among Venezuela's poor for putting the oil-rich state in their service.
Seven days of mourning were declared, and all school was suspended for the week.
Just a few hours before announcing Chavez's death, Maduro accused enemies, domestic and foreign, of trying to undermine Venezuelan democracy.
The government said two US military attaches had been expelled for allegedly trying to destabilize the nation. But in announcing that the president was dead, Maduro shifted tone, calling on Venezuelans to be "dignified heirs of the giant man."
"Let there be no weakness, no violence. Let there be no hate. In our hearts there should only be one sentiment: Love. Love, peace and discipline."
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles was conciliatory in a televised address.
"This is not the hour for differences; it is the hour for union, it is the hour for peace," he said.
Maduro and other government officials recently railed against international media for allegedly reporting rumors about Chavez's health.
Maduro, whose government role had grown after Chavez went to Cuba for treatment, said "we have no doubt" that Chavez's cancer was induced by "the historical enemies of our homeland."
Maduro compared the situation to the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, claiming Arafat was "inoculated with an illness," and said a "scientific commission will prove that Comandante Chavez was attacked with this illness."
US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the assertion Washington was somehow involved was "absurd."
He hinted that the US could reciprocate with expulsions of Venezuelan diplomats.
Soldiers placed the coffin on a car, where it was driven outside of the hospital. "Chavez to the pantheon!" shouted supporters, referring to a mausoleum he had built to house the remains of independence hero Simon Bolivar.
Authorities have not said where Chavez will be buried after tomorrow's state funeral.
The man he anointed to succeed him, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, will continue to run Venezuela as interim president and be the governing socialists' candidate in an election to be called within 30 days.
Foreign Minister Elias Jaua confirmed that just hours after Maduro, tears running down his face, announced the death of Chavez, the larger-than-life former paratroop officer who had presided over Venezuela for more than 14 years.
Considerable funereal pageantry was expected to honor Chavez, the political impresario widely adored among Venezuela's poor for putting the oil-rich state in their service.
Seven days of mourning were declared, and all school was suspended for the week.
Just a few hours before announcing Chavez's death, Maduro accused enemies, domestic and foreign, of trying to undermine Venezuelan democracy.
The government said two US military attaches had been expelled for allegedly trying to destabilize the nation. But in announcing that the president was dead, Maduro shifted tone, calling on Venezuelans to be "dignified heirs of the giant man."
"Let there be no weakness, no violence. Let there be no hate. In our hearts there should only be one sentiment: Love. Love, peace and discipline."
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles was conciliatory in a televised address.
"This is not the hour for differences; it is the hour for union, it is the hour for peace," he said.
Maduro and other government officials recently railed against international media for allegedly reporting rumors about Chavez's health.
Maduro, whose government role had grown after Chavez went to Cuba for treatment, said "we have no doubt" that Chavez's cancer was induced by "the historical enemies of our homeland."
Maduro compared the situation to the death of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, claiming Arafat was "inoculated with an illness," and said a "scientific commission will prove that Comandante Chavez was attacked with this illness."
US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the assertion Washington was somehow involved was "absurd."
He hinted that the US could reciprocate with expulsions of Venezuelan diplomats.
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