US officials expected to attend Chavez funeral

The United States is expected to send a delegation to Hugo Chavez's funeral later this week in a move that could send a conciliatory message to Venezuela now that its stridently anti-American leader has died.

Senior US officials also said on Wednesday that Washington had no immediate plans to respond in kind to Venezuela's expulsion of two US military attaches, which was announced on Tuesday by Vice President Nicolas Maduro just hours before he told the world of Chavez's death. (Reuters)