By CLINT CHAN TACK Friday, March 8 2013

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A woman reacts as she pays tribute to late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Military Academy chapel yesterday in Caracas. ...

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will attend the funeral of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas today. This means she will miss the debate on the Defence Amendment Bill 2013 which begins in the House of Representatives at 1.30 pm. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan will open the debate.

A statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair before the start of yesterday’s Cabinet meeting said Persad-Bissessar would travel to Caracas to attend the funeral. The Prime Minister was scheduled to leave TT on board an Air Guard plane at Piarco International Airport at about 5 pm yesterday.

She will return home this evening and during her absence Labour Minister Errol McLeod will act as Prime Minister. Several heads of government from the Caribbean and Latin America will be in Caracas for today’s funeral. Leaders already there include Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Uruguayan President Jose Mujica and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

Chavez, 58, died on Tuesday after a two-year battle with cancer. His body is lying in state at the Military Academy in Caracas until his state funeral today. The Venezuelan government announced seven days of national mourning in the country, which started on Tuesday. On that same day, Persad-Bissessar said this country will be well represented at today’s funeral.

On Wednesday, she dispatched a letter to Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro expressing condolences on Chavez’s passing and assuring him of the continued strength of TT- Venezuela diplomatic relations.

Persad-Bissessar also visited the Venezuelan Embassy at Bretton Hall in Port-of-Spain on Wednesday, signed a condolence book for Chavez and met with Ambassador Extraordinare and Plenipotentiary designate Coromoto Godoy Calderon who will also attend Chavez’s funeral.