Hugo Chavez To Be Embalmed 'Like Lenin'

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be embalmed "like Lenin" and his body permanently displayed in a glass coffin, his deputy has revealed.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro said the 58-year-old's remains will be placed at the Museum of the Revolution, close to the Presidential Palace where Mr Chavez ruled for 14 years, so that "his people will always have him".

He added the president will lie in state for at least another seven days.

A state funeral for the former leader attended by some 33 heads of government is scheduled to begin on Friday.

Tens of thousands have already filed past his glass-topped coffin at a military academy following a seven-hour procession on Tuesday, which took his body from the hospital where he died.

General Jose Ornella said that Mr Chavez had suffered a massive heart attack but that even on his deathbed the man who dominated Venezuela for 14 years did not want to let go.

General Ornella said: "He couldn't speak but he said it with his lips: 'I don't want to die. Please don't let me die,' because he loved his country, he sacrificed himself for his country."

Mr Chavez's mother Elena and his three daughters, son and grand-daughter were the first to pay their respects.

The country's foreign minister, Elias Jose Jaua Milano, declared seven days of mourning for Mr Chavez, who died after losing his battle with cancer.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have filled the streets since his death, surrounding the capital's landmarks with a sea of red, yellow and blue - the colours of the national flag.

Reporting for Sky News, journalist Virginia Lopez said: "Family, friends and members of the President's Guard of Honour joined the parade.

"The streets are bursting with people wearing red berets that Chavez made emblematic of his rule."

Minutes before his final journey, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said Mr Chavez's "spirit roams freely, filled with light protecting our people. Our people are in the streets expressing their solidarity, their feelings".

He fought back tears as he announced the death on Tuesday night in a national television broadcast.

He said Mr Chavez, who had been in power for 14 years, died at 4.25pm local time "after battling a tough illness for nearly two years".

He claimed the late president's illness had been induced by foul play by "the historical enemies of our homeland".

Amid fears of unrest, Mr Maduro also said the army and police had been deployed "to accompany and protect our people and guarantee the peace".

Mr Jaua Milano said Mr Maduro would continue to run the country as interim president until fresh elections can take place in around 30 days.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was "saddened" by the death of a leader who had left a "lasting impression on the country and more widely".

Mr Chavez had been receiving cancer treatment in Cuba on and off since June 2011 - when he was first diagnosed with the illness.

He had not been seen in public or heard since undergoing a fourth round of surgery in Cuba on December 11.

The government said he returned home on February 18, and had been confined to Caracas's military hospital ever since.

The man M Chavez defeated in October's presidential elections, Miranda State Governor Henrique Capriles, is expected to represent the opposition in the national polls. He called for unity and offered his condolences to Mr Chavez's family.

Venezuela's defence minister pledged the military would remain loyal to the constitution in the wake of Mr Chavez's death.

Sky's Dominic Waghorn said Mr Chavez "used a mixture of brute force, persuasion, passion and charisma to keep himself in power".

"Such was the adoration and devotion that mainly the poor in Venezuela felt for him that he was seen as this almost sort of religious figure, and his loss now leaves a huge void in Venezuelan politics.

"A lot of people say he is irreplaceable."