Body of former Venezuela president Carlos Andrés Pérez repatriated

Remains of ex-leader arrive in Caracas nine months after his death in Miami sparked family feud over his final resting place The remains of former president Carlos Andrés Pérez has arrived in Venezuela, nine months after his death in Miami set off a bitter family feud over his final resting place. The embalmed body of Venezuela’s former leader had remained in limbo, kept for a time in cold storage in a Miami mortuary then in a Florida mausoleum, while the families of his wife and his longtime mistress battled in court over whether he should be buried in Venezuela or the United States. Edgar Zambrano, one of Pérez’s former confidants, said a casket bearing the remains arrived on a plane that departed from Atlanta, Georgia. Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, a one-time friend of Pérez who escorted the casket to Venezuela, said: “It’s a burdensome mission: retrieving a friend who left us. We must understand that friendship does not die along with the men who leave us physically.” Pérez died on 25 December aged 88. Dozens of relatives, friends and politicians, many of whom wore black suits and dresses, sang Venezuela’s national anthem as the coffin was carried from the airport to a hearse that transported the ex-president’s body to the headquarters of the Democratic Action political party in central Caracas. Henry Ramos, secretary-general of Democratic Action, praised Pérez for “his great achievements” and “contribution to Venezuela’s democracy.” Pérez will be buried on Thursday following a funeral mass, Ramos said. His estranged wife, Blanca Rodriguez de Pérez, insisted she had the right under Florida law as surviving spouse to bring her husband’s body home. But his longtime companion in Miami, Cecilia Matos, contended that Pérez had vowed repeatedly never to return as long as political arch-nemesis Hugo Chávez was president. After months of negotiations, a confidential settlement was reached in August that led to sending Pérez back to his homeland. The settlement also covered papers, computer files, memorabilia and other presidential artifacts that Pérez had in Miami when he died. A court-appointed curator has been cataloguing all of the material, but no details have been released on where it will end up. Pérez was president from 1974-1979 and from 1989-1993, surviving two failed coup attempts, including one led by Chavéz. He left the country in 2000, facing the threat of arrest on corruption accusations, and did not return. Alex Gonzalez, attorney for Pérez’s wife and family in Venezuela, said on Monday that a public viewing is scheduled for Wednesday. There are no plans for Venezuelan government involvement or any kind of state funeral. Pérez was born on 27 October, 1922, near the town of Rubio in western Tachira state. He started his political career as a youth leader and founder of Democratic Action, a centre-left party that dominated politics for decades before Chavéz’s rise to power in 1999. In his first term in the 1970s, Pérez won popularity by nationalising Venezuela’s oil industry, paying off foreign oil companies and then capitalising on a period of prosperity that allowed his government to build subway lines and bankroll new social programmes. He became one of Latin America’s most prominent political leaders, popularly known after his initials as “CAP.” Venezuelans elected him for a second time in 1988, hoping for a return to good times after a decade of economic decline. But his popularity plunged when he tried to push through an economic austerity programme that included increasing the subsidised prices of petrol. Anger among the poor boiled over in riots in 1989 and more than 300 people were killed in the unrest known as the Caracazo. Venezuela United States guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.