Amid protests, Venezuela to remember late Hugo Chavez

A man dressed as former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez embraces a man during the Carnival festival in Caracas March 4, 2014. Venezuela geared up on Tuesday for commemorations of late leader Chavez's death despite continued protests against his successor that have shaken the OPEC member. [Photo/Agencies]

CARACAS - Venezuela geared up on Tuesday for commemorations of socialist leader Hugo Chavez's death despite continued protests against his successor that have shaken the OPEC member and threatened the legacy of "El Comandante."

Even as students maintained barricades in some cities and activists held new rallies, President Nicolas Maduro's government was making lavish plans to honor Chavez on Wednesday's anniversary of his death from cancer.

Maduro, who announced Chavez's death in tears to a shell-shocked nation on March 5 last year, has made preserving Chavez's controversial legacy the guiding force of his presidency despite opposition from about half of Venezuelans.

The president was to preside over a military parade in Caracas on Wednesday, followed by a ceremony at the mausoleum housing Chavez's remains on a hilltop shantytown.

Latin American allies, including Bolivian leader Evo Morales and Nicaraguan counterpart Daniel Ortega, were to attend.

Maduro, 51, narrowly won election in April 2013 to replace his late mentor but has seen economic problems worsen, made little headway against violent crime, and faced street protests since early February in the nation of 29 million people.

Those demonstrations have brought Venezuela's worst unrest in a decade, with 18 people killed as demonstrators have faced off with security forces and Maduro supporters.

Yet there seems to be little chance of a Ukraine-style change at the top, given numbers on the street are not massive, the military appears to remain behind Maduro, and opposition leaders are not winning over 'Chavistas' in poor areas.

The current crisis has, though, exposed genuine discontent among Venezuelans on all sides, with the highest inflation in the Americas, shortages of products from toilet paper to milk, and violent crime rates among the worst in the world.

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