Venezuela's Maduro: I sleep in Chavez's mausoleum

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is known for his devotion to late leader Hugo Chavez and now he acknowledges that he sometimes sleeps in the mausoleum where his mentor's remains are kept.

Maduro was Chavez's vice president and named by him as his successor before he died. During the campaign for the April 14 election he narrowly won, Maduro caused a furor when he said Chavez came to him in the form of a little bird that flew around his head.

Venezuela's president reopened the issue of his use of Chavez's image on Thursday when, during an act at the former military museum where Chavez's remains are kept, he said: "I sometimes come at night. At times, many times, I sleep here."

He said he sometimes comes with a retinue. "We enter at night and we stay to sleep. At night we reflect on things here."