Remains of Carlos Andrés Pérez arrive in Venezuela

 
The remains of former Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez arrived late Tuesday in Venezuela, after being repatriated from the United States, where he died last 25 December.

Henry Ramos Allup, the president of Pérez's opposition Acción Democrática party (AD), confirmed on his social network account on Twitter that the remains of the former president arrived at Maiquetía International Airport, on the coast near Caracas, reported DPA.

The funeral of Pérez (1922-2010) will take place Tuesday and Wednesday at the headquarters of Acción Democrática, in western Caracas. The burial will be held Thursday at the Cementerio del Este, where he will rest beside the remains of former President Rómulo Betancourt (1959-1964), the founder of AD.

Pérez's will not be paid special honors as former Head of State because of his fierce rivalry with current President Hugo Chávez, who as an army commander led a coup against Pérez on February 4, 1992.

Pérez, commonly known by the acronym CAP, was president of Venezuela in two terms: 1974-1979 and 1989-1993. In his first term, he had to manage the oil boom stemming from by the Arab oil embargo after the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Meanwhile, his second period was turbulent and faced a popular uprising known as the Caracazo, which left hundreds dead and missing; two coup attempts, and finally impeachment removed him from power a year before the end of his term, which also resulted in his expulsion from Acción Democrática in 1996.

AD restored his membership in 2007 as a token of reconciliation.

The former president died in Florida last December 25, but his remains were at the center of a legal battle between the families Pérez Rodríguez -the children of the marriage of the former president and his wife Blanca Rodríguez Pérez, living in Venezuela- and Pérez Matos, the children of CAP and his longtime companion Cecilia Matos, who live in Miami.

The dispute was complicated because CAP, even though he had long separated from his wife, never divorced, which in turn prevented him from marrying Cecilia Matos, with whom he lived for several decades.

The dispute focused on the return to Venezuela of the remains of the former president. The Pérez Rodríguez family wanted him to be buried immediately in Venezuela, while the Pérez Matos family claimed that CAP would be buried in Venezuela only after the departure of Chávez from power.

Following the election of Chávez in 1998, CAP was exiled in the Dominican Republic and the United States, after the Venezuelan government accused him of crimes of human rights violations in connection with the Caracazo, which CAP always rejected.
However, in mid-August the Pérez Rodríguez family and the Pérez Matos family reached an agreement to repatriate the remains of Carlos Andrés Perez in Venezuela.

The funeral will be conducted by the Pérez Rodríguez family, but AD will pay CAP special tribute, as he was one of its historical leaders. The participation of several opposition leaders and presidential candidates is also expected.