CARACAS: Venezuela on Monday exhumed the remains of two sisters of independence hero Simon Bolivar, hoping to compare DNA samples obtained from them to remains believed to belong to the Latin American leader.

The country exhumed what is believed to be Bolivar`s body in July, with Venezuela`s President Hugo Chavez saying investigators would try to determine how the legendary rebel died.

Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said Monday that two committees were investigating Bolivar`s remains, one charged with verifying the authenticity of the body, the other with determining his cause of death.

"A team has been analyzing DNA obtained from the tomb of the Liberator (Bolivar)... and now we can cross-examine and compare the samples with those of his sisters to determine if the remains belong to Simon Bolivar," he said.

On Sunday, Jaua announced that the bodies of Maria Antonia and Juana Bolivar would be exhumed and "a tooth from each" would be extracted in a procedure that has received "permission from the Church" because the bodies are buried at the Caracas Cathedral.

He said the committees`s findings would be made public, but did not say when the results were expected.

According to the history books, Bolivar died of tuberculosis just outside the Colombian town of Santa Marta in December 1830, but Chavez disputes those claims, insisting instead that he was murdered.

Opposition groups and even historians have slammed the move to exhume the remains, with some accusing the president of seeking to rewrite Venezuelan history.

Bolivar helped liberate five South American nations from Spanish colonial rule including Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.

Chavez cites him as the inspiration for his so-called "Bolivarian revolution," and the firebrand constantly cites the independence icon in his speeches.

BDST: 0910 HRS, August 31, 2010