Several close Chavez allies, including the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay, already are in Venezuela for Friday's funeral.
The United Nations Security Council held a moment of silence Wednesday for Chavez. Cuba, home of Chavez's mentor Fidel Castro, is observing two days of official mourning. Chinese and Iranian leaders also expressed their sorrow.
The U.S. Embassy in Caracas is closed until after the funeral. The U.S. delegation to the funeral has not yet been announced. President Barack Obama said he reaffirms his support for the Venezuelan people and is committed to policies promoting democracy and human rights.
Chavez, a staunch socialist, was elected president in 1998. He earned the enmity of the United States and others for such policies as nationalizing major companies and courting world leaders such as Fidel Castro, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi.
The country's opposition accused him of being a dictator. But millions of poor Venezuelans revered him for using the country's vast oil wealth to give them access to low-cost food, free medical care and other social programs. However, experts say Chavez failed to control crime or use oil wealth to enrich the overall economy.
Latin America analyst Sean Burges, Australian Center for Latin American Studies: "It’s definitely going to be the economy. Nobody knows what’s going on with the oil company and how much it’s producing," he said. "There are balance payments problems. There are production problems. There are supply problems. And these are all things that even if Chavez had stayed in power, he was going to have to deal with in the next four years. So it’s going to be a really titanic exercise in economic management and rationalization."
"Regardless of what happens, I think some of the social policies and the political, dynamic changes Chavez brought in, those are going to be around forever."
AP and VOA
1. To attend Friday's funeral
2. Wednesday
3. 2 days
4. After the funeral
5. Policies promoting democracy and human rights
6. In 1998
7. Major companies
8. Being a dictator
9. Yes, he did
10. No, he didn't
