Chavez; "Gosh, I'm scared -- I've only got three days left!"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(The phrase about Chavez's "self-proclaimed revolution" has become popular
in proimperialist journalism. It was never true, but, in any case, it sure
isn't only "self-proclaimed" anymore. Fred Feldman)

At Rally, Venezuela's Leader Taunts Foes and Vows to Fight
By REUTERS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Oct. 13 (Reuters) - Buoyed by a huge show of support
from hundreds of thousands of followers, President Hugo Chávez today mocked
opposition demands for him to quit and vowed to press ahead unswervingly
with his self-proclaimed revolution. Six months after surviving a brief coup
by rebel generals and admirals, Mr. Chávez, a leftist former paratrooper,
led a huge rally of his supporters in Caracas, the capital, and issued a
stern warning to his foes.

"If the coup plotters want to try another coup, then we're waiting for
them," the president told the cheering crowd, which filled to overflowing
the capital's central Bolivar Avenue.
In a move certain to infuriate his foes, who include media owners, labor and
business chiefs and dissident military officers, the president ordered
private television and radio stations to interrupt normal programming and
broadcast his speech live.

The rally was held to commemorate the day in April when Mr. Chávez was
restored to office by loyal troops and supporters after being deposed for 48
hours by disgruntled officers.
The rally was also a response to a large opposition march in Caracas on
Thursday. The huge turnouts in both events reflected the intensity of the
sharply polarized political conflict that is shaking Venezuela, one of the
world's largest oil exporters.

The president said more than two million people had turned out for the
rally, but no independent estimates were available.

Mr. Chávez, an outspoken nationalist who was elected in 1998 six years after
taking part in an unsuccessful coup, scoffed at an opposition threat to call
a national strike on Oct. 21 if he did not resign and call early elections
by Wednesday.
"I've only got three days left - gosh, I'm scared," he joked, saying his
hard-line foes, whom he condemned as "fascist, coup-plotting elites," were
"all bark and no bite."
Mr. Chávez said he would leave late Monday for a five-day trip to Europe.

Mr. Chávez dismissed the threatened strike, calling it part of an opposition
coup plot and saying it would fail. "I challenge the opposition to try to
halt the country," he said. "Let's see if they can. Go on, do it."

Workers in the oil industry, the mainstay of the Venezuelan economy, have
said they will not support a strike.

Although the opposition movement has gained momentum, divisions over
strategy and the lack of a charismatic leader have created frustration in
its ranks. The next presidential election is not until December 2006. Mr.
Chávez has told his opponents they can wait until August 2003, halfway
through his term, to try to hold a popular referendum on his rule allowed by
the constitution.

The rally was the biggest show of strength by Chavez's supporters since they
swept him back to power six months ago.
Opposition leaders accuse the president of dragging the country toward
Cuban-style communism. They condemn his interventionist economic reforms and
confrontational leadership style as dictatorial.

While he refused to quit, Mr. Chávez, whose 1998 election mandate was
reconfirmed by another national vote in 2000, said that even if elections
were held now, he would win.
"We've already given" the opposition "a few knockouts, and in the next
elections, we'll give them another," he said.


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