{"id":8714,"date":"2013-08-25T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=8714"},"modified":"2013-08-25T13:00:09","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T13:00:09","slug":"chavez-still-with-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/chavez-still-with-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e1vez: Still With us?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Hugo-Chavez.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Hugo-Chavez-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"Hugo-Chavez\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-8715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Hugo-Chavez-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Hugo-Chavez.jpg 630w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/356679\/ch-vez-still-us-andrew-stuttaford\">Cross-posted on the Corner<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Financial Times<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/intl\/cms\/s\/0\/afac6754-0503-11e3-9ffd-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2cx8uSafk\">reports:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>[Venezuelan president Maduras] campaigned on the basis that his predecessor spoke to him in the form of a little bird. Last week, he admitted that he regularly sleeps in the mausoleum where the comandante\u2019s remains are kept for inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>He is not alone in making that pilgrimage. Mariana Alcal\u00e1 recently travelled from the western city of Barquisimeto to Caracas to lay flowers at a shrine set up by devotees near the military barracks where the former president\u2019s remains are kept in a sarcophagus surrounded by the presidential guard of honour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur giant has left us in person, but he will always be with us in spirit. I think that the majority [of chavistas] believe, have faith, that one way or another he is helping us, not only socially but also spiritually,\u201d says Ms Alcal\u00e1. \u201cWe ask him for help, and he helps us, he illuminates us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cSaint Hugo Ch\u00e1vez\u201d shrine in the 23 de Enero slum in central Caracas is one of many that have sprung up around the country since the socialist leader, who described himself as a Christian, died in March. In poor areas like the 23 de Enero, one of Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s strongholds where he was revered in life, his image hangs next to those of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Pope Francis I.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a product of the empathy he developed with the majority of the unassisted, unprotected, forgotten population of Venezuela. When he took power they felt that some sort of father had arrived, a saviour, a protector, an Almighty,\u201d says Lizbety Gonz\u00e1lez, a Venezuelan expert on cults. \u201cHis death generated a deep pain and that vacuum was filled by a cult, a cult that is evident all over Venezuela now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some even believe the former president could be more powerful dead than alive. \u201cCh\u00e1vez is a god, a messiah, a warrior of light,\u201d says Humberto L\u00f3pez, who likes to dress as the Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Okey dokey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cross-posted on the Corner: The Financial Times reports: [Venezuelan president Maduras] campaigned on the basis that his predecessor spoke to him in the form of a little bird. Last week, he admitted that he regularly sleeps in the mausoleum where &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/chavez-still-with-us\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[608,1030,845],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8716,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8714\/revisions\/8716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}