Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, marking the halfway point of his current six-year term, Tuesday vowed to defend his left-wing "revolution" by force if necessary as his foes launched a campaign to vote him out.

"This is a peaceful revolution, but it's armed. It has the arms to defend itself," the populist president told supporters in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, where he was visiting.

Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and re-elected in mid-2000, spoke on the eve of a planned opposition march in Caracas that aimed to deliver (on) Wednesday more than 2.7 million signatures formally requesting a vote on his presidency.

Under Venezuela's constitution, Tuesday's halfway point in Chavez's current mandate opens the way for a referendum on his rule. His political opponents are seizing the opportunity to seek to unseat him through the ballot box.

"This day is the beginning of the fall of Chavez's government, but in a peaceful, democratic and constitutional way," said former Gen. Nestor Gonzalez. An anti-Chavez army officer, he was fired for rebelling against the president.

Opposition groups were holding pro-referendum parties, complete with fireworks, Tuesday night.

But no date has been set for the referendum and the possible vote faces potential legal and bureaucratic roadblocks.

Chavez, who led a botched coup bid in 1992 and survived a military uprising last year, defended his government as a crusading revolutionary force which had improved health and education for Venezuela's poor.

Warning his foes not to attempt to overthrow him by force, he said: "We are ready to do anything to defend this Bolivarian project."

Chavez, a firebrand nationalist who likes to compare himself to Venezuela's 19th century independence hero, Simon Bolivar, said his government was backed by the armed forces, which he purged of opponents after last year's coup.

His critics, whom he dismisses as rich, resentful "oligarchs," accuse him of dragging the world's No. 5 oil exporter toward Cuba-style Communism. They say he has ruined the economy with left-wing policies that strengthen the state at the expense of private enterprise.

His supporters have dismissed the referendum challenge as another desperate attempt by his foes to force him from office. They predict the opposition will fail to call the vote, or will lose it if there is one.

"I want the president to serve out his term," Irua Ostos, a pro-Chavez literacy campaign coordinator, said.

Chavez's main support has traditionally come from Venezuela's poor majority, but his popularity has plummeted in opinion polls since his election as political feuding over his rule has pushed the oil-rich country deep into recession.

Following a crippling opposition general strike in December and January, unemployment and inflation have risen sharply.

Led by the United States, a leading importer of Venezuelan oil, the Organization of American States has backed the referendum as the best way to solve the country's crisis.

Close

Today's Top News		Top International News
+The next great leap after Shenzhou V ( 2003-10-21) +Hu calls for balanced development ( 2003-10-21) +Report: SARS not airborne virus ( 2003-10-21) +Int'l AIDS group opens Beijing office ( 2003-10-21) +Three astronauts board space station ( 2003-10-21)		+Three astronauts board space station ( 2003-10-21) +US hopes Iraq fund will attract donors ( 2003-10-21) +Bolivia ex-president vows to return ( 2003-10-21) +UN report: US war on terror radicalizes Arabs ( 2003-10-21) +Israel raids in Gaza kill 10, wound 100 ( 2003-10-21)