Venezuela: Caracas – Hugo Chavez Tomb & Mausoleum

Hugo Chavez Tomb and Mausoleum is located in the former military fort and barracks on top of a hill in 23 de Enero neighborhood in Caracas – the very heart of his socialist leftist supporters. The barracks were also the place where Chavez attempted a failed coup in 1992. Chavez’s sarcophagus rests inside a large central courtyard atop a granite monument sculpted like a blooming flower surrounded by water. The tomb is continuously guarded by a presidential honor guard in historical uniforms. Every day at 425 PM – the exact time Chavez’s death was officially announced on March 5, 2013 – a blank cannon shot is fired from the barracks terrace overlooking the Miraflores Presidential Palace below. And you get panoramic view of the presidential palace itself as well as really rundown slums around it.