CARACAS
Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be laid to rest today (March 8) in Caracas.
Anadolu Agency correspondents will cover the official funeral that will be attended by several world leaders.
His body was taken to military academy on Wednesday and since than millions of Venezuelans and Latin Americans visit his body to pay their respects to their beloved leader. Upon Chavez's will, his funeral that has been continuing since Wednesday, is more like a festival than mourning.
Talking to AA correspondents, Chavez supporters said Chavez brought prosperity to the country and they would continue to walk in his footsteps. A woman said she walked 8 kilometers and waited all night long to see his body.
Hugo Chavez's body will be preserved and forever displayed inside a glass tomb at a military museum not far from the presidential palace from which he ruled for 14 years, his successor announced Thursday in a Caribbean version of the treatment given Communist revolutionary leaders such as Lenin, Mao and Ho Chi Minh.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's acting head of state, said Chavez would first lie in state for "at least" seven more days before the museum becomes his permanent home.
More than 30 heads of government, including Cuban President Raul Castro and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are to attend the funeral. US Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, and former Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, will represent the US, which Chavez often portrayed as a great global evil even as he sent the country billions of dollars in oil each year. Turkey's Deputy Premier Besir Atalay will represent Turkey at the funeral.
Reporting by Mehmet Toroglu/Bariskan Unal in Caracas
