The Latin American liberator’s remains include an intact skeleton, some hair, remnants of a shirt and boots. 50 Specialists from Venezuela and Spain will carry out DNA testing on the remains to determine the cause of death.

July 18, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Authorized by the Venezuelan government, the exhumation process of Latin American hero and liberator Simon Bolivar’s remains has begun in capital city Caracas.

On Friday, Bolivar’s remains were displayed on national television during an official ceremony with President Hugo Chavez himself present. The Venezuelan government allowed the process of exhumation to take place in order to remove doubts surrounding Simon Bolivar’s death at age 47.

The Latin American liberator had managed to liberate Venezuela and indeed all of Latin America from the Spanish rule some two hundred years ago. For Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Simon Bolivar represents the highest human virtues and a true international hero.

The Latin American liberator’s remains include an intact skeleton, some hair, remnants of a shirt and boots. 50 Specialists from Venezuela, Spain will carry out DNA testing on the remains to determine the cause of death.

According to historical records, Bolivar spent his last days in bed and eventually died of tuberculosis on December 17, 1830. But other theories indicate that Simon Bolivar had died of gradual arsenic poisoning administered in the form medicine to help him recover from an illness.

Bolivar’s remains have been kept at the National Pantheon in Caracas since 1876.