Viva Hugo: the cult of Chavez lives on in Venezuela

The eyes of Hugo Chavez peer down from some of Caracas's tallest buildings, contributing to a sense that the "Comandante Supremo" is still watching over his people almost six months after his death.

With the help of the omnipresent posters and slogans - "Chavez lives, the fight continues!" - the larger-than-life former president's grip over politics and daily life in Venezuela appears to be as strong as ever.

The propaganda and imagery that buttressed the late paratrooper's anti-capitalist crusade since he was first elected in 1998 now serve a different purpose: assuring his immortality.

"Chavez is a source of legitimacy for [his successor, Nicolas] Maduro. The revolution can continue with a Chavez that is dead, because for the people he is still very much present," says Maryclen Stelling, a sociologist sympathetic to Mr Chavez's "Bolivarian revolution".

This was evident at a recent rally in downtown Caracas, when Mr Chavez's voice boomed from loudspeakers in a rendition of the Venezuelan national anthem. An ecstatic red-shirted crowd responded with a chant of "viva Venezuela!" But when the new president took over the microphone their enthusiasm notably waned.

Mr Maduro built his popularity on Mr Chavez's legacy, which the socialist leader anointed him to continue. But he is now in many ways hostage to it. Even dead, unofficial popularity polls give Mr Chavez an advantage of almost 15 points over Mr Maduro.

For Ms Stelling, Mr Maduro is battling a "sacred being". The former bus driver and trade unionist needs to "de-Chavez" the political debate if he is to push ahead with reforms needed to rescue a struggling economy, she says.

That could prove tricky, not only because of opposition from the radical wing of the socialist government. Mr Maduro appears to be Mr Chavez's principal devotee. He campaigned on the basis that his predecessor spoke to him in the form of a little bird. Last week he admitted that he regularly sleeps in the mausoleum where the Comandante's remains are kept for inspiration.

He is not alone in making that pilgrimage. Mariana Alcala recently travelled from the western city of Barquisimeto to Caracas to lay flowers at a shrine set up by devotees near the military barracks where the former president's remains are kept in a sarcophagus surrounded by the presidential guard of honour.

"Our giant has left us in person, but he will always be with us in spirit. I think that the majority [of chavistas] believe, have faith, that one way or another he is helping us, not only socially but also spiritually," says Ms Alcala. "We ask him for help, and he helps us, he illuminates us."

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"This is a product of the empathy he developed with the majority of the unassisted, unprotected, forgotten population of Venezuela. When he took power they felt that some sort of father had arrived, a saviour, a protector, an Almighty," says Lizbety Gonzalez, a Venezuelan expert on cults. "His death generated a deep pain and that vacuum was filled by a cult, a cult that is evident all over Venezuela now."

Some even believe the former president could be more powerful dead than alive. "Chavez is a god, a messiah, a warrior of light," says Humberto Lopez, who likes to dress as the Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara.

For many, the question remains as to what Mr Chavez really was in life - just a charismatic leader, a dangerous messianic demagogue, or a revered hero. But to his devoted followers that is irrelevant. The answer is simple: "Chavez lives", so the "fight continues".

"He is still a force for good, a hope for this people; Chavez is still performing miracles," says Mr Lopez, lighting three candles representing the red, yellow and blue Venezuelan flag at a makeshift altar he built at home. "And the Commander has only been dead for a few months."

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