page_title: Death of Hugo Chávez
section_title: Funeral
hierarchical_section_title: Death of Hugo Chávez / Funeral
caption_attribution_description: Español: Paseolo los Próceres, cortejo fúnebre de Hugo Chavez.
context_page_description: Hugo Chávez, the 45th President of Venezuela, died on 5 March 2013 at 16:25 VET in Caracas, Venezuela from cancer at the age of 58. His death triggered a presidential election which was constitutionally required to be called within 30 days. Nicolás Maduro served as interim president following Chávez's death until 14 April, because the Vice President did not want to take charge of the country as Chávez had nominated Nicolas Maduro as a successor.
  Chávez was first elected as president in 1998 and was re-elected in 2000, 2006 and finally in 2012. However, Chávez was unable to be sworn in for a fourth term after the 2012 election due to his illness.
context_section_description: Foreign minister Elías Jaua decreed seven days of mourning for Chávez. Chávez's body was taken to the Military Academy in Caracas on 6 March 2013, accompanied by large numbers of supporters who joined the procession at the military parade grounds (the Heroes Avenue) and was left lying in state for the public to visit for three days. The state funeral was held in Caracas on 8 March 2013. Acting President Nicolás Maduro originally stated that Chávez's body would be embalmed and permanently displayed after the state funeral in a transparent sarcophagus at a military museum in the former site of the Military Academy in La Planicie Barracks at the 23 de Enero district west of the city proper. However, due to difficulties in finding an expert and the uncertainties of plastination in which the weather plays a substantial part, Maduro announced that the body would not be embalmed in time.
  President Maduro extended national mourning from 4 to 11 days to coincide with the transportation of the body to the military museum (now Museum of the Revolution) at La Planicie Barracks, which was renamed Mountain Barracks as it was, not by accident, the place which the then Army LtCol Chavez captured and used as a command centre in the brief coup of 1992, and where he uttered his famous words "Por ahora" (For now) to the press.
  For the final arrangements a funeral service was arranged, with the casket leaving the Military Academy grounds in Fort Tiuna on 17 March 2013 under full military honours including references to Ltn. Cnl. Chavez's home battalion (the Apure Braves 414th Armored Battalion) with the marching song "Patria Querida" (Fatherland Beloved) played in slow time, a 21-gun salute, and a Military Aviation (formerly Venezuelan Air Force) flyover by Sukhoi Su-30 fighters in a missing man formation. Government party militias in their light motorcycles followed the motorcade (itself surrounded by Army mounted guards) with a large following of (mostly poor) citizens, with final arrival honors paid upon arrival at the Mountain Barracks. Bolivian President Evo Morales, President Maduro (then interim) and Chavez's brother Adan and daughter Maria Gabiela each gave speeches before the flag folding and dedication ceremony. The national flag covering the casket was handed to Elena Frías de Chávez, the late President's mother, on behalf of the armed forces and the nation.
caption: Chávez's funeral procession
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