CARACAS: Hugo Chavez died nearly five months ago, but that hasn't stopped his hand-picked successor from holding week-long festivities honoring the late Venezuelan leader's birthday.
The fiery former military officer who dominated the country's political scene from the moment he took office in 1999 to his death on March 5 would have turned 59 on Sunday.
President Nicolas Maduro is marking the occasion with public dances and concerts. He even plans to go house-to-house in some neighborhoods bearing gifts and a message from the "supreme comandante."
Chavez's legacy however has divided the country, with about half the population blaming him or Maduro for the country's miserable economy and sky-high crime rate.
Ground zero for the Chavez worship is the Cuartel de la Montana, an old fort on a Caracas hillside deep within a working-class pro-government neighborhood. Over the years it has housed a military academy, government offices, and a military museum.
Today it is also a mausoleum for the late leader, who died after a long battle with cancer that captivated the nation's attention for months.
Chavez's marble sarcophagus is protected by an honor guard, and every day at 4:25 pm a cannon is fired to mark the moment he died.
"I'm still crying for my presidente," said Norelis Alvarez, a 44-year-old nurse, as she left the Cuartel.
Maduro was at the Cuartel on Sunday, and surrounded by the most senior government and military officials he celebrated Chavez's birthday by vowing to continue the late leader's policies.
The self-declared "first Chavista president," a 50 year-old former bus driver, promised to battle crime and corruption, and urged Venezuelans to have faith in the government's policies.
Comments
Comments are closed.