[Simon] Bolivar is the second former leader who's been rudely awakened this year. The body of Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos was stolen by grave robbers for a number of weeks, prompting a nation-wide cadaver-hunt . Because of Papadopolous' hardline Cypriot nationalist politics, a political motive was suspected, but it turned out the crooks were just after ransom....

Then there is the perennial debate over Lenin's Tomb in Red Square, which Russian leaders acknowledge "does not quite fit today's realities" but is still too politically sensitive to move....