"It has been decided that the body of the comandante will be embalmed so that it remains eternally on view for the people at the museum," Nicolás Maduro, the country's acting president, told state TV. The move would keep Chávez's socialist revolution alive, he said. The museum, which has not been built, would be called the Museum of the Revolution.
At least 33 world leaders and hundreds of thousands of supporters are expected in the capital, Caracas, for an emotional ceremony which Maduro said would begin at 11am local time.
Under the Venezuelan constitution, an election should be held within 30 days of the announcement of Chávez's death on Tuesday, but politicians and officials have indicated there may not be time to organise it so quickly.
Admiral Diego Molero Bellavia, the defence minister, fuelled the febrile mood by urging Venezuelans to vote for Chávez's designated heir, Maduro, and to give opposition "fascists a good hiding" at the polls. He told state TV that the "mission" of the armed forces was to put Maduro in the presidency.
Polls give Maduro a big lead over the expected opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles, a young state governor who lost to Chávez in last October's election.
As the president lay in state at the Caracas military academy, drawing mile-long lines of people wishing to pay their respects, details emerged of his final moments following a two-year battle with cancer.
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| Mourners in Caracas |
"He couldn't speak but he said it with his lips … 'I don't want to die. Please don't let me die,'" General Jose Ornella, the head of the presidential guard, told Associated Press. He said the president, 58, had died of a massive heart attack.
The government has not given specific details of the cancer, which was in the pelvic region, but on the eve of his death it announced he had suffered a severe respiratory infection.
The government has not given specific details of the cancer, which was in the pelvic region, but on the eve of his death it announced he had suffered a severe respiratory infection.
Ornella said the best doctors from all over the world treated Chávez in Cuba and Venezuela but they had never discussed his condition in front of him. The general said he did not know what kind of cancer afflicted Chávez, but added: "He suffered a lot."
When the president made his final public address on 8 December before returning to Cuba for more surgery he knew "there was very little hope he would make it out of that operation".
Two months earlier the president, first elected in 1998, won another landslide after promising voters he had been cured. Ornella echoed government claims that unnamed foes, assumed to be the US, triggered the cancer. "I think it will be 50 years before they declassify a document [that] I think [will show] the hand of the enemy is involved," he said.
Bolivia's Evo Morales, Argentina's Cristina Fernández and Spain's Prince Felipe, son of Juan Carlos, the king who famously told Chávez to shut up, will be among the dignitaries at the funeral.
Chávez often said he wished to be buried on the plains – los Llanos – of his home state Barinas. "Have me buried here, along these savannahs. This is an order I've given, when my time comes," he said on his TV show in 2009, before the cancer diagnosis.
Putting his body on display in Caracas would violate the president's expressed wish but facilitate visits by supporters who wish to pay homage. It would also give his ruling socialist party, the PSUV, a powerful symbol in the heart of the capital.
Tens of thousands lined up in baking sunshine to glimpse Chávez, dressed in military uniform and red beret, in a coffin at the military academy.
When the president made his final public address on 8 December before returning to Cuba for more surgery he knew "there was very little hope he would make it out of that operation".
Two months earlier the president, first elected in 1998, won another landslide after promising voters he had been cured. Ornella echoed government claims that unnamed foes, assumed to be the US, triggered the cancer. "I think it will be 50 years before they declassify a document [that] I think [will show] the hand of the enemy is involved," he said.
Bolivia's Evo Morales, Argentina's Cristina Fernández and Spain's Prince Felipe, son of Juan Carlos, the king who famously told Chávez to shut up, will be among the dignitaries at the funeral.
Chávez often said he wished to be buried on the plains – los Llanos – of his home state Barinas. "Have me buried here, along these savannahs. This is an order I've given, when my time comes," he said on his TV show in 2009, before the cancer diagnosis.
Putting his body on display in Caracas would violate the president's expressed wish but facilitate visits by supporters who wish to pay homage. It would also give his ruling socialist party, the PSUV, a powerful symbol in the heart of the capital.
Tens of thousands lined up in baking sunshine to glimpse Chávez, dressed in military uniform and red beret, in a coffin at the military academy.
"When you see him it's a shock, it's too painful," said Ismelda Gonzalez, 57, a seamstress who had travelled from the provincial city of Valencia and queued overnight. "Seeing him, it's like a dream and a nightmare. We're all still in shock. We have lost a man of principles. No one is comparable." Her daughter Vanessa, 18, said she would vote for Chávez's heir. "I am with Maduro. We will continue with the struggle."
Soldiers handed water bottles to the massed crowds. Loudspeakers played speeches and songs by Chávez. Some people wept, others kept their spirits high with their own songs. One young man practised salsa steps.
"I have come to give thanks. Thanks to the president I always got my pension," said Inez Delgado, 70, wiping away tears. "When we heard the news of his death it was like a hurricane hit us."Members of the opposition have kept a low profile and offered condolences during the enormous show of support for Chávez, one of Latin America's most popular leaders.
But some expressed relief at the demise of a man they saw as a dictator who trampled on opponents and ruined their economy.
"I wanted his mandate to end. Power made him lose perspective," said Israel Nogales, 43, a university administrator walking in a Caracas park. "He polarised the country and families like mine …He is going to be treated like a martyr and that is wrong."
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