Chávez excelled in ridiculing his political enemies, but he was too much of a narcissist to approach the end with the kind of humor that, according to Suetonius, inspired Emperor Vespasian’s deathbed quip: “Oh dear, I must be turning into a God.” The grotesque idea of embalming Chávez’s body was finally discarded precisely because of the damage suffered by the corpse during its display to the masses in a chaotic exercise in political manipulation.
查韦斯长于戏弄政敌，但他太过于自我陶醉，无法在弥留之际像维斯帕先那样临终自嘲：“天哪，我一定会成为神。”（苏维托尼乌斯记载）。长久保持查韦斯遗体的可笑想法最终被放弃，正是因为尸体在政治操纵的匆忙之中向大众展示期间会遭受损坏。