Venezuela's acting President Nicolas Maduro urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday to halt an alleged plot to kill opposition leader Henrique Capriles ahead of the April 14 presidential vote.

Capriles, whom Chavez beat in October, is running in the upcoming election against Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor.

Late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was laid to rest at a military museum on Friday after an emotional final journey through the streets of Caracas watched by hundreds of thousands.

After more than a week lying in state, Chavez's body was driven through the Venezuelan capital in a hearse, allowing his compatriots to bid a final farewell to the man who ruled the South American country for 14 years.

The body of late president Hugo Chavez made its way through the Venezuelan capital Friday in a multitudinous farewell to the "comandante" a month before elections to pick his successor.

His loved ones joined high-ranking government and army officials at a mass in his memory, saying goodbye before sending the remains of the leftist leader on its final journey through the city.

The United States has expelled two Venezuelan diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after Caracas ordered two U.S. Air Force officers out of the country, the State Department said Monday.

Embassy second secretary Orlando Jose Montanez and consular official Victor Camacaro, who worked in New York, were each declared "persona non grata" by the United States on Saturday, department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Venezuela has entered a bitter election race to succeed Hugo Chavez, with his chosen successor branding his challenger a "fascist" after the opposition candidate accused him of exploiting the late leader's death.

Henrique Capriles accepted Sunday the nomination of the main opposition coalition for the April 14 election, immediately launching a broadside against acting President Nicolas Maduro by accusing him of being "sick with power."

Venezuelan political parties begin registering candidates Sunday for a snap election on April 14, setting the stage for a bruising campaign to succeed the late president Hugo Chavez.

The national electoral council set the poll date on Saturday one day after Nicolas Maduro, Chavez's handpicked successor, was sworn in as acting president in a ceremony largely boycotted by the opposition, which slammed it as unconstitutional.

Venezuela's new acting president, Nicolas Maduro, held talks with a Chinese delegation on Saturday and the two sides vowed to deepen strategic relations in honor of late leader Hugo Chavez.

Maduro, who was sworn in late Friday, met with the chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, Zhang Ping, who represented President Hu Jintao at Chavez's funeral.

Venezuela marched Saturday towards a bitter election to succeed Hugo Chavez after his political heir took over as acting president in a ceremony disputed by the opposition following the leftist leader's funeral.

The "most likely" date for the election is April 14, a source in the national electoral council told Agence France Presse before the panel was due to meet on Saturday to make a decision.

Some of the world's most notorious strongmen wept openly Friday at the lavish state funeral of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan leftist whose revolution won him friends and foes at home and abroad.

Venezuelan conductor and Los Angeles Philharmonic maestro Gustavo Dudamel led an orchestra's rendition of the national anthem to open the ceremony as Chavez lay in state in a flag-covered coffin after a 14-year reign.

Lawmakers from Venezuela's opposition coalition said Friday they will boycott the swearing-in of Nicolas Maduro as interim president, saying it was an act of electioneering that violates the constitution.

"We want to firmly tell the world and Venezuela that we won't attend today's session of the National Assembly because we consider it another electoral act and a violation of the Venezuelan constitutional order," said deputy Angel Medina of the Democratic Union Roundtable, an umbrella grouping of opposition parties.