MANILA: A Philippine mortician famous for putting dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos into a glass display case yesterday offered his services to embalm Hugo Chavez, whom Venezuela wants embalmed “like Lenin”.
The Manila-based embalmer Frank Malabed stressed experts must act quickly if they wanted to successfully preserve the Venezuelan president, who died on Tuesday from cancer.
“I have not been contacted for it but I am always expecting a call. I will process anyone, anywhere,” Malabed, 62 said.
He said the methods employed would depend on the condition of the corpse of Chavez, who his successor said on Thursday would be preserved “for eternity”.
While Venezuelan authorities said they wanted Chavez embalmed “like Lenin”, Malabed said he would not use the same techniques as those employed for the Soviet revolutionary leader.
“I was told they preserved Lenin using resin. It’s like making a block of ice. You have a box, you pour water on it and freeze it. If I were asked to do it (embalm Chavez), I would do it differently,” he said.
The Philippine Star
