Venezuela Holds Hugo Chavez State Funeral

About 30 world leaders are attending the ceremony in the military academy and huge crowds of his supporters are gathered outside. Photo by BBC

The state funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is under way in the capital, Caracas, BBC reported.

About 30 world leaders are attending the ceremony in the military academy and huge crowds of his supporters are gathered outside.

Later, Vice-President Nicolas Maduro is due to be sworn in as acting president. He must call elections within 30 days.

Leaders from Latin America and beyond are attending the funeral, among them Raul Castro of Cuba, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia.

Outside, crowds chanted "Chavez lives!" and "The struggle continues!"

Also attending is Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has praised Chavez as a "martyr" and a "wise and revolutionary leader".

Congressman Gregory Meeks and former Congressman William Delahunt represent the US at the funeral of Chavez, a fierce critic of Washington.

Maduro said that Mr Chavez's body would be embalmed "like Lenin and Mao Zedong".

The body will be moved to the Caracas military museum where in 1992 Mr Chavez - as an army officer - was captured after leading a failed coup.

Hugo Chavez, who led Venezuela for 14 years, died on Tuesday aged 58 after a long battle with cancer.

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