Venezuela’s information minister says the government has decided that the body of Hugo Chavez will not be embalmed for permanent display, as officials had said it would be, the guardian reports.
Ernesto Villegas’ tweet on Friday night said the government had discarded the option based on the advice of a Russian medical commission. The commission said Chavez’s body would have to be sent to Russia for seven to eight months to be properly embalmed, according to the message.
Acting president Nicolas Maduro announced last week that Chavez’s body would be perpetually displayed, but then on Wednesday he said that now seemed “highly unlikely”.
Chavez died on March 5 after succumbing to cancer. On Friday the government moved his body from a military academy, where it had been on display, to a hilltop military museum.
