Venezuela has called an election for April 14th to choose the successor to the late President Hugo Chávez. On Friday, Chávez was laid to rest at a funeral ceremony in the capital Caracas. His chosen successor, acting President Nicolás Maduro, delivered the eulogy.

Nicolás Maduro: “Because Comandante Chávez had the most powerful shield inside of him that a human being can have — his purity, his truthfulness, his love of Christ, a real son of Christ — it saved him from insults, from infamy. And here he is unbeaten, pure and transparent, unique and real and alive forever, for all times, for this time and all other future times. Comandante, they couldn’t with you, they couldn’t ever with us. They never will.”

Latin American leaders in attendance included the Chávez allies Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Cuba’s Raúl Castro, and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; as well as Chile’s Sebástian Piñera and Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attended. The Obama administration sent no senior officials, dispatching former Congressmember William Delahunt and Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York.