Chavez funeral gathers leaders from across globe

Acting president to call for elections, and vows to embalm former leader

World leaders were to join hundreds of thousands of mourners at a state funeral for Venezuela's Hugo Chavez on Friday, as his political heir vowed to embalm the leftist leader "like Lenin".

His funeral was set to begin at 11 am local time, and was to be followed by the swearing-in of his successor Nicolas Maduro, who plans to call for elections.

Fifty-five world leaders were expected at the funeral, including Cuba's Raul Castro, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.

Castro had earlier said his friend had died "undefeated, invincible, victorious" after "entering through the great door of history".

Ahmadinejad expressed his condolences as he arrived in Venezuela early on Friday, calling Chavez "a symbol for all those who seek justice, love and peace in the world".

Chavez will be kept in a glass casket to be seen "for eternity", Maduro said on Thursday.

Maduro said the body will be taken to the "Mountain Barracks" in the Jan 23 slum that was a bastion of Chavez support, a facility that is now being converted into a Museum of the Revolution.

It was there that Chavez had spearheaded what proved to be a failed coup against president Carlos Andres Perez on Feb 4, 1992. His arrest turned him into a hero, leading to his first of many election victories in 1998.

But Maduro suggested that Chavez may one day be moved elsewhere, a nod to popular pressure for him to be taken to the national pantheon to lie alongside Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello said Maduro would be formally sworn-in as acting president at 7 pm local time after the funeral, and that he would "call for elections".

The national electoral council is tasked with setting a date for elections, which must be called within 30 days under the constitution.

As the political transition gets under way, the farewell to Chavez has also been extended, with Maduro saying the public viewing period would last at least seven more days after the funeral.

Chavez lay in a half-open, glass-covered casket in the academy's hall, wearing olive green military fatigues, a black tie and the iconic red beret that became a symbol of his 14-year rule.

The government said more than two million people had come since Wednesday to get a glimpse of their hero. Many stood in line through the night.

"He's in there, but my comandante is immortal," said Saul Mantano, a 49-year-old salesman with a hat emblazoned with Chavez's name and the Venezuelan flag. "I didn't want to see him dead, but it's a reality now."

Soldiers and civilians, many clad in red, walked past the casket, pumping their fists to their hearts or blowing kisses.

Chavez lay with a red sash across his torso bearing the word "militia" - the name of a 120,000-strong armed civilian force that he had formed.

A four-man honor guard and four tall candelabras flanked the coffin, with a golden sword at the foot of it.

The country gave Chavez a rousing send-off through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday, one day after he lost his battle with cancer at the age of 58, with a sea of people in red shirts throwing flowers on his coffin.

After being sworn in as acting president, Maduro will likely face off in elections to be called within 30 days against opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October presidential polls.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 03/09/2013 page7)