Venezuelans Mourn Chavez

Crowds of grieving Venezuelans sobbed and threw flowers as his coffin made its way through the streets of Caracas Wednesday. A somber Vice President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked successor, walked next to the hearse.

Chavez died Tuesday of cancer. He was 58-years-old.

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 polices 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.

Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan VP:

"We now have to be united more than ever with major discipline and collaboration," he said. "We are going to grow. We are going to be dignified, inheritors and children of a great man. He was and will always be Comandante Hugo Chavez. Glory and honor Comandante Hugo Chavez. Long live Chavez!''

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."

"Irrespective 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."

World Leaders Express Sorrow Over Chavez Death

The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has inspired many tributes and expressions of hope for the Venezuelan people.

Some of the late president's closest allies -- Bolivian President Evo Morales, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Uruguayan President Jose Mujica -- arrived in Venezuela Wednesday, several days ahead of the leftist leader's state funeral set for Friday.

After learning of Chavez's death, a tearful President Morales had said that the late president would continue to be an inspiration for people who fight for their liberation.

Meanwhile at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the U.N. Security Council held a moment of silence to honor Chavez's memory.  Earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had offered his condolences to the Venezuelan people.

Another close ally of the Chavez government, Cuba, is observing two days of mourning with flags flown at half-staff.  A statement from the government said the Cuban people considered him one of their "most outstanding sons."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also offered his condolences and said he may attend Friday's funeral.  China called Chavez "a great leader and great friend of the Chinese people."

The U.S. Obama administration, often the target of Chavez's criticism, was cautious in its response, releasing a statement expressing support for the Venezuelan people and interest in "developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government."

In the largely Venezuelan community of Doral in the Florida city of Miami, many people who left Venezuela while Chavez was in power took to the streets to celebrate his passing. Some expressed hope that the problems they left behind -- crime, corruption, and a poor economy -- would finally begin to improve.