Caracas takes on a red hue to mark Chavez's death

http://www.efe.com

The streets of Caracas are bathed in red in honor of late President Hugo Chavez, who made the color the symbol of his Bolivarian Revolution. Chavez will lie in state in the chapel of the Military Academy until his funeral and burial on Friday. The 58-year-old president died Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer. Thousands of Venezuelans clothed in red lined the streets of Caracas on Wednesday as Chavez's coffin was carried from the Military Hospital to the Military Academy. Red banners, Venezuelan flags, photographs of Chavez and posters honoring the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution have filled the streets of the capital. The armed forces fired a 21-gun salute to Chavez at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday and announced that a cannon would be fired once an hour until the late president was buried on Friday. Chavez's death was announced Tuesday by a tearful Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who will serve as interim president. Chavez had undergone four operations, as well as courses of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, since first being diagnosed with cancer in June 2011. The leftist president spent more than two months in Cuba due to complications that followed his Dec. 11 cancer surgery in Havana. Elections will be held within 30 days and Maduro is expected to be the candidate of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela.