Venezuela's Late President Chavez Makes Final Journey

Hugo Chavez's coffin was carried from the military academy. Photo by AP

Thousands of Venezuelans are on the streets of Caracas to escort the body of their late president, Hugo Chavez, to its resting place.

The coffin is being taken to a military museum in the area where he led an unsuccessful military coup in 1992.

On Wednesday, acting President Nicolas Maduro said it was unlikely that the body would be embalmed for permanent viewing as originally suggested by the government.

Chavez died of cancer last week.

Earlier, political and military authorities joined Chavez's relatives for a ceremony at the military academy where his remains lay in state for 10 days.

"You have left us unexpectedly and have left an enormous vacuum in Venezuela," said one of Mr Chavez's former teachers at the military academy, Major General ?Jacinto Perez Arcay?.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have paid their respects to the late leader, filing past the coffin where he lay wearing an olive green suit and his red beret.

"I came because he's our president," a mourner told AFP news agency.

"He did so much for us," said another.

Shortly after his death was announced on 5 March, the government declared seven days of mourning which were later extended to 10.

The BBC's Abraham Zamorano says it is not yet clear what will happen to Mr Chavez's body in the longer term.

On Wednesday Mr Maduro said it was highly unlikely that it would be embalmed. He had earlier suggested it would be preserved and displayed like Lenin, Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong.

It has also been suggested that Mr Chavez may be laid to rest in the National Pantheon in Caracas, next to the independence hero Simon Bolivar, whom Mr Chavez much admired.

But before that could happen, Congress would have to amend the constitution. It currently states that no-one can be buried there until at least 25 years after their death.

It has been reported too that Mr Chavez had personally stated he wanted to be buried in his hometown, Barinas.

But correspondents say that for the time being, the choice of a military museum in one of Mr Chavez's strongholds in the capital Caracas, is full of symbolism.

It is there that Mr Chavez's military career ended after a failed coup in 1992. It is there, too, that he suggested that he would be back.

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