Caracas, Mar 8: Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's body will be preserved and forever displayed inside a glass tomb at a military museum not far from the presidential palace from which he ruled for 14 years, his successor has announced in a Caribbean version of the treatment given Communist revolutionary leaders such as Lenin, Mao and Ho Chi Minh.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's acting head of state, said Chavez would first lie in state for "at least" seven more days at the museum, which will eventually become his permanent home.
Hugo Chavez's body was carried back to the military academy where he started his army career, his flag-draped coffin lying in state in the echoing halls as a mile-long (1.5 kilometer-long) line of mourners came to pay homage Thursday to the larger-than-life leader.
Cannon boomed a salute each hour as Venezuelans numbering in the hundreds of thousands filed past.
