2013: the International Response to Hugo Chavez’s Death and Funeral

President Hugo Chavez died on March 5, 2013.A five-mile long march of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans accompanied the procession of Chavez’s coffin from the Hospital to the Military Academy in Caracas where the funeral was held on March 8. 55 countries sent delegations to the funeral, 33 of them were headed by presidents or heads of governments. [1] Every Latin American president attended. This was a funeral with few precedents. The funeral of Ronald Reagan in 2004 gathered 36 former and current heads of state. The funeral of Hugo Chavez brought together at least 38 former and current heads of state.[1]

The President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, broke down and cried on television as he said his country was “destroyed” by Chavez’s death.[2] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a standing ovation as he took his place in a guard of honor, then broke protocol to touch the casket and kiss the Venezuelan flag [3] Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote an Op-Ed published in the New York Times:[4]

·       “No remotely honest person, not even his fiercest opponent, can deny the level of camaraderie, of trust and even of love that Mr Chavez felt for the poor of Venezuela and for the cause of Latin American integration.  I will always cherish the friendship and partnership that, during the eight years in which we worked together as presidents, produced such benefits for Brazil and for Venezuela and our peoples.”

Fourteen countries decreed official days of mourning in response to Chavez’s death. The governments of Brazil, Peru, Haiti, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic all declared three days of national mourning. Nicaragua and Bolivia declared a week of mourning. Belarus, Nigeria, and Iran declared three, seven and one day of mourning respectively. More countries declared national mourning after Chavez’s death than after Nelson Mandela’s. [2]  

1.CEPR, Unprecedented Show of Support and Honor at the historic Funeral of Hugo Chavez, March 10, 2013.

2. MacLeod, Alan, Bad News from Venezuela, 2018

3.Reuters, Global leaders, celebrities honour Chavez at Funeral, March 8, 2013

4.Inacio Lula da Silva, Luiz, Latin America After Chavez, New York Times, OP-ED, March 6, 2013

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