File photo shows Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and his late Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has set off for Venezuela to pay tribute to his late Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, who died earlier this week after a two-year battle with cancer.
Ahmadinejad left Tehran for Caracas on Thursday to attend Chavez funeral the following day.
The Iranian president is accompanied by his top adviser Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Vice President for Executive Affairs Seyyed Hassan Mousavi, Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad-Reza Mir-Tajeddini and acting Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Asadollah Abbasi.
Iran and Venezuela have forged strong economic and political relations in the recent years.
Friday’s funeral of Chavez will be also attended by several heads of state from Latin America, and other parts of the world.
The body of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been put in a half-open casket for farewell.
Chavez coffin was placed half-open in the hall of Military School of Venezuela in Caracas after it was accompanied by his supporters from hospital on Wednesday.
His children surrounded the coffin as people chanted, “Chavez lives, the struggle goes on.”
MP/SS
