No Lenin Treatment for Chavez
Last week, after the death of Hugo Chavez, there was a suggestion that he might be embalmed and put on long-term display, a la Lenin.
Alas, ’tis not to be the case (via the Miami Herald): Maduro: Chavez long-term embalming unlikely
Venezuela’s acting president said Wednesday that it is highly unlikely Hugo Chavez will be embalmed for permanent viewing because the decision to do so was made too late and the socialist leader’s body was not properly prepared on time.
“The decision should have been made much earlier,” Nicolas Maduro said during a speech at a government-run book fair. “The decision, or really the proposal more than a decision, was made as a product of love.”
President Chavez died on March 5. The decision to preserve his body permanently was announced two days later.
Chavez’s embalmed body was to be put on display at a military museum on a hill a mile from the presidential palace, where it was to have been transferred on Friday.
Maduro suggested the body would still be placed there.
“The world’s best” experts, Russian and Germans, were brought in and consulted on the embalming and advised authorities that it was probably not possible, said Maduro. He did not go into detail.
Chavez wanted to be buried in a family cemetery. He wasn’t a weirdo ghoul like Maduro (maybe a weirdo, but not a ghoul).
This is an area where the lack of details is appreciated….
“Details witheld because, you know, you simply don’t want to know.”