VENEZUELA: The President of Venezuela, Mr Hugo Chavez, yesterday declared three days of national mourning to mark the death of Cardinal Ignacio Velasco, the country's senior church figure, who was an opponent of the President. He died on Sunday after a long illness.
Tear-gas and rubber bullets scorched the streets beside Caracas Cathedral yesterday as police officers, under the orders of an anti-Chavez mayor, dispersed government supporters. The attack was met with a volley of missiles that left one police officer hospitalised after being struck on the head with a bottle.
The Plaza Bolivar, site of the cathedral, the city mayor's office and other government buildings, also houses the Hot Spot, a public debating area not unlike Speaker's Corner in London's Hyde Park, that is dominated by Chavez fans.
Government supporters chanted "He's dead, he's dead, he's dead" outside the cathedral as silent mourners queued to view the remains of the archbishop.
"They're worse than animals," said Ms Maria Perez, praying inside the cathedral, blessing herself repeatedly in response to the irreverent singalong, still audible inside the thick church walls.
Cardinal Velasco maintained a stormy relationship with the Chavez administration, leading church ceremonies in which he accused the government of undermining family values and implementing an education programme that has challenged church-controlled schools.
The crunch came when he blessed the April 2002 coup in which President Chavez was briefly ousted from office.
The hostile chant against the deceased cardinal mirrored the slogan of the anti-Chavez crowds who took to the streets and chanted: "He's gone, he's gone, he's gone" after President Chavez was detained during the failed coup.
President Chavez once called the church a "tumour" and priests "devils under their cassocks". Venezuela remains bitterly divided over his administration .