Chavez's body to be embalmed for public view

CARACAS - Venezuelan Acting President Nicolas Maduro said Thursday that the body of late president Hugo Chavez will be embalmed and displayed in the Museum of the Revolution so that "people can see forever."

Maduro said the government decided to keep the remains of Chavez at the Military Academy for "at least seven days so that people can see." "We want everyone to come and see," he added.

"It has been decided to prepare the body of the president commander, embalming to be open forever, so that people can have it there in the Museum of the Revolution," Maduro said from the hall of honor at Catacas' Military Academy.

In this regard, he said that the body of the late leader of the Bolivarian Revolution will be placed in a glass case, with the aim that "our people can have it forever."

The acting president did not rule out the possibility of burying Chavez, at the request of the people, in the National Pantheon, a building reserved for Venezuelan independence heroes, including Simon Bolivar and Antonio Jose de Sucre, which may require an amendment to the Constitution.

Chavez, who was re-elected on October 7, 2012 for the fourth term, died on Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.