Chavez passed away at 58, 2 years after battling with cancer. Venezuelan citizens in their hundreds of thousands streamed to the streets to pay their tributes to their fallen leader. The hearse carrying Chavez’s body was driven through the streets on route to the military academy. Chavez’s supporters carried pictures of their late leader and threw flowers and red T-shirts to the coffin as it passed through the streets. A mass was later on held at the military academy where Chavez’s family and several Latin American leaders congregated to pay their respects to the fallen leader.
The Associate Press news agency quoted General Jose Ornella, the head of the presidential guard, saying that he had been with the late president at the time of his death. Ornella said that Chavez died from a heart attack and during the moments of his last breath he still maintained that he wanted to live. Chavez passed away on Tuesday at the military hospital. On Friday a state funeral will be held for Chavez.
According to the Venezuelan constitution within 30 days a presidential election should be held to elect the nation’s new leader.
