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                    World Leaders Gather for Chavez Funeral

   Dozens of world leaders have gathered in Venezuela`s capital for the
   state funeral of the late president Hugo Chavez.
   Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cuban President Raul Castro
   are among the leaders in Caracas for Friday`s funeral. The U.S. is
   sending a diplomatic delegation.
   The government said more than two million people have filed past the
   late president`s open coffin since Wednesday at a military academy in
   Caracas.
   His body will lie in state for seven more days after the funeral to
   accommodate the millions of Venezuelans who still want to pay their
   last respects to a man who will be remembered as one of the world`s
   most colorful and controversial leaders.
   Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro will be sworn in as acting
   president late Friday.
   He will likely face off in elections to be called within 30 days
   against opposition leader Enrique Caprioles, who lost to Mr. Chavez in
   the October presidential polls.
   Mr. Maduro has announced that Mr. Chavez will be embalmed and his body
   displayed forever in a Caracas military museum.
   The vice president compared Mr. Chavez to other revolutionary leaders
   whose bodies also have been preserved, including Russia`s Lenin and
   China`s Mao.
   The late president Chavez, who was 58, died Tuesday after a two-year
   fight against cancer. His death devastated millions of mostly poor
   supporters who loved him for putting the country`s vast oil wealth at
   their service. But the death of Mr. Chavez is also giving hope to
   opponents who denounced him as a dictator.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/world-leaders-gather-for-chavez-funeral/1617592.html