MIAMI (AP) — A judge has delayed the burial of former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez amid a family feud over his final resting place.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Gerald Hubbart issued an order late Tuesday to keep a funeral home from burying Mr. Perez as planned Wednesday.
His first wife, Blanca Perez, wants him buried in Venezuela. She maintains that she has the right to decide because, while the two were separated, they were never legally divorced. She also claims Mr. Perez left no written instructions regarding his remains.
Mr. Perez’s longtime mistress and secretary, Cecilia Matos, and their two daughters had planned to bury him in Miami, where they live, after a Mass on Wednesday. Ms. Matos is frequently identified as Mr. Perez’s current wife, but it is not clear whether they were married.
She and her daughters have vowed they will not take Mr. Perez’s remains back to Venezuela until President Hugo Chavez, who led a 1992 coup attempt against him, leaves office.
Judge Hubbart did not immediately schedule another hearing, but he granted Ms. Perez’s request to prevent the funeral home from taking any action to bury or otherwise dispose of the body until the dispute is settled.
Juan C. Antunez and Juan Jose Delgado, appointed to handle the matter on Ms. Perez’s behalf, declined to comment Wednesday.
Mr. Perez’s family in Venezuela wants him buried there next to his daughter Thais, who died 15 years ago.
Another daughter in Venezuela, Carolina Perez, toldtThe Associated Press she found out about her father’s death from Twitter and her family was never consulted about the burial. She maintains that her mother, Blanca Perez, should be the one to decide what happens to her father’s remains.
“They’re still married, and the law is very clear in Venezuela and in the United States: When the person dies, the one who has the right to reclaim the body is the spouse, and we exercised that right,” she said.
Diego Arria, a close Perez ally and his former U.N. ambassador, said both sides have expressed willingness to resolve the situation and he does not believe the dispute will turn into an extended court battle.
He said lawyers for Mr. Perez’s relatives in Miami and Caracas are discussing the matter and that both sides should agree on when the ex-president’s body are to be taken to Venezuela.
Mr. Perez was a popular president who presided over an oil boom in the 1970s. He later was impeached during a second term in office and spent two years under house arrest.
He died Saturday in Miami. He was 88.
Associated Press writers Ian James and Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela, and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.
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