CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --Thousands of Venezuelans donned symbolic red berets
and marched through the capital's streets Wednesday to mark the 12th anniversary of a
failed coup by current President Hugo Chavez.

The February 4, 1992, attempt to overthrow then-President Carlos Andres
Perez landed Chavez in jail for two years, but propelled the former lieutenant
colonel and paratrooper from obscurity to national prominence.

Dozens of civilians died during the coup attempt, which Chavez said sowed the
seeds of a popular revolution against a "false democracy" marked by corruption
and resentment among Venezuela's impoverished majority.

Government supporters on Wednesday turned several Caracas streets into
rivers of red berets -- a symbol of Chavez's so-called "revolution" -- while
marching to a horse race track for a Chavez speech.

Chavez opponents unfurled black flags from windows before an evening
candlelight march to protest Wednesday's celebration, which they said showed
Chavez has as much contempt today for democracy as he did in 1992. Some
"Chavista" marchers snatched flags from windows and burned them.

"While they were stealing, we were starving," Marisabel Valdez, a 51-year-old
civil servant, said of the old ruling class as she burned a black banner. "I'd
rather die than see them return."

Chavez declared Wednesday a day of "national jubilee," while opposition
leaders mourned the 17 soldiers and more than 80 civilians killed during the
coup attempt.

They asked followers to dress in black and carry candles at the evening march.

Wednesday's marches came during a campaign to hold a recall referendum on
Chavez's rule. The National Elections Council is verifying more than 3.4 million
signatures opponents say they submitted to demand the vote.

Chavez was elected in 1998 and re-elected to a six-year term in 2000.

Critics accuse Chavez of accumulating power and running roughshod over
democratic institutions. Supporters say he has given the poor greater access to
health care and education and a voice in Venezuelan politics.

This polarized South American nation had a brief coup in 2002 and a general
strike in 2003.

Yoel Acosta Chirinos, a former army lieutenant colonel who joined Chavez's
cause 12 years ago and still supports the president, expressed regret for the
1992 coup bid.

"I thank God we weren't successful," Chirinos said in an interview with El
Nacional newspaper published Wednesday. "We were violating the norms of
democracy, and it would have been difficult for us to govern."

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.