Chavez body ‘highly unlikely’ to be embalmed

PanARMENIAN.Net - The acting president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro has said it is highly unlikely that the body of the former president Hugo Chavez will be embalmed, BBC News reported.

Earlier, Maduro had suggested it would be preserved and displayed like Lenin, Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong.

Maduro said Russian experts thought it would probably not be possible, as the body had not been properly prepared in time and now presented complexities.

Meanwhile, the official mourning period has been extended until Friday.

After the president's death on March 5, the government had declared seven days of official mourning. The United Nations general assembly held a minute of silence for Chavez on Wednesday, March 13.

Maduro, who is running for president in the April 14 elections, commented on the deceased leader's embalming during a speech.

"Russian and German scientists have arrived to embalm Chavez and they tell us it's very difficult, because the process should have started earlier, immediately and now it's not possible. We are in the middle of the process, and it's complicated," he told the crowd.

Earlier, the acting president said an alleged plot to murder the opposition presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, had been discovered.