Cuba gives Chavez 21-gun salute
2013-03-08 22:12
-
Hugo!
The remarkable biography of Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela and leader of the Bolivian...
Now R151.95
buy now
Havana - The blast of cannons echoed through Havana on Friday
as Cuba honoured Hugo Chavez with a 21-gun salute on the day of his funeral in
Venezuela.
Six cannons roared from La Cabana, a colonial-era
fortress on the city's waterfront.
Flags flew at half-mast on the last of three days of
mourning declared for the death of Chavez on Tuesday.
Soldiers from both countries laid a wreath at the foot of
a large photo of Chavez, the ideological soul mate of the Castro brothers and
Cuba's benefactor through hefty exports of oil on favourable payment terms.
Raul Castro travelled to Caracas for Chavez's state
funeral on Friday.
Thousands of Cubans turned out on Thursday in rallies in
memory of Chavez.
Chavez's death has many Cubans worried that the hard
times of the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its chief source of
aid at the time, might be coming back.
- SAPA
