Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff said on Wednesday that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who died on Tuesday, was a friend to her country.

During a meeting with rural workers, she proposed a minute of silence for the Venezuelan leader, who succumbed to cancer after several treatments and surgeries.

President Rousseff considered Chavez's passing as 'an irreparable loss' for Latin America and stressed that even though Brazil has disagreed with Venezuela many times over the years, it always respects Chavez as a leader.

"President Chavez was, without any doubt, a leader committed to his country and to the development of all peoples of Latin America, " she said, "We acknowledge Chavez as a great leader, an irreparable loss and, above all things, a friend of Brazil and of the Brazilian people."

Rousseff also praised Chavez's generosity with his people and the people of Latin America and said his death will leave a hole in the heart of the people.

The Brazilian President will fly to Caracas on Thursday to attend Chavez's funeral, which is expected to take place on Friday morning. Like several other Latin America leaders, she declared three days of official mourning in Brazil over Chavez's death. During this time, all flags will fly at half-mast.

The death of Hugo Chavez made headlines in all Brazilian media. The main Brazilian dailies Wednesday published a large number of pieces including features about Chavez's death and the political challenges of Venezuela.

Rio de Janeiro's daily "O Globo" published a feature titled "Venezuelan Crossroad", where it said that "with the current exalted spirit, five months after Chavez's last electoral victory, the country will be the stage of a new electoral dispute which will define the future of the 'Chavist' revolution."

Columnist Clovis Rossi, from Sao Paulo's daily "Folha" said Chavez "organized the Venezuelan politics even beyond his death," by appointing Maduro as his successor and anticipating to a probable internal war inside the "Chavismo".

"And it is working: Maduro as the temporary president and blessed by Chavez, in the last month he became the face of the ' Chavismo' for the Venezuelans. This clearly gives him a large advantage in the election, which is now inevitable," he said. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)