Jesse Jackson attends Chavez funeral

Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., US civil rights leader, attended the funeral of Hugo Chavez, the anti-American Venezuelan leader who died earlier this week.

Jackson, who ran for president twice in the 1980s, gave a prayer, urging God to "heal the breach between the US and Venezuela."

Despite testy ties, the US was represented by its charge d'affaires and two politicians from President Barack Obama's Democratic Party.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman spoke to Jackson in Caracas.