Venezuela sings Happy Birthday to late president Chavez

CARACAS  - Supporters of Venezuela's former president Hugo Chavez celebrated what would have been his 60th birthday Monday with fireworks, a gun salute - and the unveiling of a computer font based on the late leader's handwriting.

The full-day festivities began shortly after midnight, when President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's hand-picked successor, sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles on a cake.

The leftist firebrand Chavez led Venezuela from 1999 until he died of cancer on March 5, 2013.

Maduro, speaking later Monday in the southwestern town of Sabaneta, where Chavez was born, said "a little bird" told him the former president was "happy and loving the loyalty of his people." Among other homages to the populist leader, an online magazine launched a new font designed to resemble his handwriting, complete with irregular capitalisation and elongated letters.

The tributes ended with an event attended by presidents and foreign ministers of Latin American and Caribbean nations, who Tuesday are to attend a regional summit.

Chavez was a charismatic but controversial leader who promoted socialist policies, but left a politically divided country in his wake.

Maduro now faces an economic crisis, with massive shortages of basic goods, runaway inflation, and rampant crime. Opposition protests against Maduro since February have left more than 40 dead and at least 873 people injured according to the latest government tally.