Venezuela says Chavez’s body might not be embalmed

CARACAS - Agence France-Presse

AP Photo

Venezuela’s acting president Nicolas Maduro acknowledged March 13 that it could be too late to have president Hugo Chavez embalmed “like Lenin” so that his body could be on view permanently.

“We have welcomed top-level scientists, the best in the world, from Russia and Germany... The scientific reports and opinions we are getting are that it is going to be quite difficult” to arrange special embalming that would enable permanent viewing, Maduro said at an event carried on state television.

The government had said it wanted Chavez’s supporters to be able to visit the late standard-bearer of the Latin American left forever in the wake of his March 5 death from cancer after 14 years in power.

The reason is that “preparatory steps would have to have been taken much earlier,” Maduro said.

“The decision would have to have been made much earlier. So I have the duty to report on these steps so that everyone knows that there are difficulties that could make it impossible to do what was done with Lenin, Ho Chi Minh or Mao Zedong,” Maduro added.

Two days after Chavez’s death Maduro had announced that he wanted Chavez preserved “eternally” so his body could be on permanent view.

Maduro said that he got the idea from his love of Chavez and from presidents who came from other countries and suggested the late leader be preserved for permanent viewing.

Chavez’s casket has been on view for several days in Caracas, with tens of thousands of supporters filing past to bid farewell.

It was only on March 11 that Venezuela plunged into a bitter election fight to succeed Chavez, with Maduro and opposition leader Henrique Capriles facing off in a flurry of name-calling.