MEDELLIN: The hearse that carried Venezuelan ex-President Hugo Chavez’s remains during his funeral procession in Caracas in March 2013 was on display in a classic car parade featured at the Medellin Flower Fair in northwestern Colombia.
The 1998 Lincoln limousine became the main attraction of this event in which 260 cars were viewed by crowds numbering more than 1 million.
“There were great expectations and a special feeling about this hearse and its history,” Luis Fernando Arango, manager of San Vicente Funeral Home and owner of the vehicle told.
What is known as “Chavez’s car” arrived last July 24 in Medellin at the end of an unusual story that began with the passing of the former president on March 5, 2013.
According to Arango, what began as a simple, no-cost loan of one funeral home to another, ended with an “injustice.”
The hearse was flown from Colombia in a Venezuelan air force plane to Caracas, so those attending the funeral could view their former leader.
Such a purchase never occurred and the limo ended up in San Antonio del Tachira on the Colombian border, where it found a buyer, but due to “irregularities,” it was later confiscated by Colombia’s DIAN tax and customs authority in Cucuta on grounds that it had entered the country as contraband.
But Arango never gave up, and finally found the person who bought the limo and got it back for 130 million pesos (some $44,000).
Again in possession of the limousine, Arango had it parked for 15 days in the garage at San Vicente Funeral Home where it was painted before taking part in Friday’s Flower Fair parade.
“I felt it an obligation to recover the hearse because of its history… People ask for it, but there’s always someone who doesn’t want it used because Chavez inspired both love and hate,” the owner said.
