Venezuela says goodbye to Chavez
2013-03-06 18:55
Caracas - Throngs of Venezuelans crowded the streets of Caracas
on Wednesday, many clad in red, waving flags and weeping in a final goodbye to
late president Hugo Chavez as he was taken through the capital.
Some watched from apartment windows, others climbed
fences to get a better view and many held up smartphones to take pictures of
the flag-draped coffin adorned with flowers.
Many shouted "I love you Chavez!"
"Viva my comandante! We love you Chavez,"
exclaimed Hector Carrasquel, 40, who came from Tejeria, west of Caracas, for
the procession.
"I'm here to say my final goodbye to my president.
There will never be another Chavez. He is the greatest man that this fatherland
gave us," said Jose Gregorio Conde, 34, an education worker.
"I couldn't sleep all night thinking about what
happened," he said outside the Caracas military hospital where Chavez lost
his battle to cancer on Tuesday at the age of 58.
A guard in red uniform led the procession, holding a
sword, as Vice President Nicolas Maduro and other officials marched toward the
military academy where Chavez will lie in state until Friday.
"What can I say, I am very sad," said Isabel
Febres, who cried as she stared at a photo of Chavez with his presidential
sash.
Many had spent the night outside the hospital while
others arrived early under the Caribbean sun. Some read the official daily
Ciudad Caracas, whose headline read "Onward to victory, always, Comandante
Chavez!"
"I love him," said Iris Dicuro, 62, who came
from the north-eastern city of Puerto La Cruz and wore a shirt with the words
"Forward Comandante”.
"I want to bid farewell because he was a good man
who gave everything to the poor."
"He did well for me. I am healthy thanks to him, for
the Cuban doctors that he brought here," she said, referring to one of the
many oil-funded social programs he brought to impoverished neighbourhoods.
Amid the grief, many were sure that Chavez's 14-year
legacy would continue and that they would vote for Maduro, his chosen
successor, in elections expected to take place within 30 days.
"God willing, we will continue the last wishes of my
president and we will vote for Maduro. We can't allow everything to be lost.
What he did, giving us education, new homes, food, he did so much," said
Mairis Briceno, 21, wearing a red shirt with an image of Chavez hugging and
elderly woman and the words "love with love pays off”.
Aldemar Castro, a 29-year-old bricklayer, said that if
Chavez hand-picked Maduro, "it is because he knows that he can do
something good for Venezuela.”
