Why are some leaders' corpses preserved? The body of Venezuela's
Hugo Chavez is to be embalmed and put on display permanently at
a military museum. How do you preserve a body indefinitely, and
why is it done? The body of Hugo Chavez is to be exhibited in
glass casket in a newly converted museum of the revolution near
the presidential palace where he ruled for 14 years, according
to Venezuela's acting leader Nicolas Maduro. Maduro said Chavez
would be following in the footsteps of other embalmed leaders,
Ho Chi Minh, Lenin and Mao Zedong. He might also have mentioned
North Korea's Kim Jong-il or Ferdinand Marcos, former leader of
the Philippines. The latter's wife Imelda is keeping his body in
a mausoleum in her home in the north of the country until, she
says, the government agrees to give him a state funeral. So, why
are some former heads of state preserved indefinitely? According
to Maduro, Chavez belongs to his people and he will be preserved
so that "his people will always have him". The move has "some lo