Hugo Chavez exhumes Simon Bolivar's bones

Reuters reports: Venezuela exhumed the remains of 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar on Friday and will test them to see if he was poisoned by enemies in Colombia.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rejects the traditional account that Bolivar, a brilliant Venezuelan military tactician who freed much of South America from centuries of Spanish rule, died of tuberculosis in Colombia in 1830.

He insists Bolivar was murdered by a Colombian rival named Francisco de Paula Santander, and Venezuela's newly inaugurated state forensics laboratory is taking as its first case the death of the hero some call Latin America's George Washington.

Some analysts have warned that revisiting the case could put more pressure on strained ties between the neighbors.

"What amazing moments we have lived tonight! We have seen the remains of the Great Bolivar," Chavez wrote on his Twitter account, @chavezcandanga, after the casket was opened before dawn.

In footage broadcast on state TV, a military honor guard clad in white biohazard suits, face masks and blue gloves marched on the spot alongside the coffin during a ceremony in a room decorated with a huge Venezuelan flag.

Inside the casket was a smaller container wrapped in older Venezuelan flag. Chavez said that flag had been made in England and that they replaced it with a new Venezuelan-made one. In 2006, the left-wing Chavez added an eighth star to the design of the country's flag and reversed a white horse on it so it faced left.

In his fight against "Yankee imperialism" by the United States, Chavez repeatedly invokes Bolivar, who is second only to Jesus as a figure of reverence in parts of South America.

Thanks Franc