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Hugo Chavez Funeral:Venezuelans plan to have former president embalmed “like Lenin” / Latin America News Video

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Handout picture released by the Venezuelan presidency showing Cuban president Raul Castro (C) during the funeral of President Hugo Chavez, in Caracas, on March 7, 2013. Late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez will be moved to a barracks where he will lie in state for longer than had been planned then be embalmed "like Lenin," interim leader Nicolas Maduro said Thursday.

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1 Hugo Chavez’ political heir has revealed that the Venezuelan leader is to be embalmed and preserved just like Lenin, and laid out in the ‘Mountain Barracks’ where he devised a failed coup.

1.1 Hugo Chavez Funeral video

Hugo Chavez’ political heir has revealed that the Venezuelan leader is to be embalmed and preserved just like Lenin, and laid out in the ‘Mountain Barracks’ where he devised a failed coup.

An estimated two million people have already filed past his glass-topped coffin at a military academy in the capital Caracas.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro – who will be formally sworn in as acting president after the funeral – has said Mr Chavez would lie in state for a week longer than expected before he is embalmed “like Lenin”.

His remains will be displayed at the Museum of the Revolution, close to the Presidential Palace where he ruled for 14 years, so that “his people will always have him”, Mr Maduro said.

Mr Chavez used the former military barracks to plot a failed coup against President Carlos Andres Perez in 1992. His arrest turned him into a hero, leading to his 1998 election victory.

Mr Madura will be appointed acting president at 7pm local time. He will be responsible for calling an election, which must take place within 30 days under the Venezuelan constitution.

Many of those who paid their respects at Mr Chavez’s resting place queued through the night for a glimpse of their hero.

Supporters of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez queue outside the Military Academy chapel waiting to pay last respects to the leader on March 7, 2013 in Caracas. Venezuelans filed past the open casket of late President Hugo Chavez as he lay in state after throngs of weeping loyalists gave the firebrand leftist a rousing farewell on the streets on the eve.

“He’s in there, but my comandante is immortal,” said Saul Mantano, who wore a hat emblazoned with Mr Chavez’s name and the Venezuelan flag. “I didn’t want to see him dead, but it’s a reality now.”

“Seeing him was very impressive,” added Chanel Arroyo. “It brought back all the memories of what we have done together in 14 years, thanks to him.”

Mr Chavez died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer. He had not been seen in public since a fourth round of surgery in Cuba in December last year.

General Jose Ornella, who said he was with Mr Chavez in his final moments, said he had suffered a massive heart attack.

“He couldn’t speak but he said it with his lips, ‘I don’t want to die. Please don’t let me die,’ because he loved his country, he sacrificed himself for his country.”

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said he was “saddened” by the death of Mr Chavez, who he said left a “lasting impression on the country and more widely”.