"Nobody can be in any doubt about the loyalty of the national armed forces toward
                 the head of state," Defense Minister Jose Vicente Rangel and other military chiefs
                 said in an unusual joint public statement released in Caracas.

                 The Venezuelan leader, an outspoken, left-leaning ex-paratrooper and former
                 coup-plotter, hailed the public backing from the military as "appropriate and
                 opportune."

                 He said it would help to counter continuing efforts by "desperate" political enemies
                 to destabilize the nation through a "campaign of intrigue" aimed at the armed forces.

                 "It's like terrorism," he went on, adding that some military commanders had been
                 receiving hoax telephone calls instructing them to send out tanks to deal with
                 fictitious disturbances.

                 Venezuela's military chiefs threw their weight behind the president at a time when
                 he is facing a storm of criticism from domestic opponents and the
                 opposition-dominated media.

                 Most of the media, small opposition parties, the Roman Catholic Church and anti-
                 government unions have recently intensified verbal attacks on Chavez and his
                 government, accusing them of incompetence, authoritarianism and corruption.

                 Some opposition politicians have started talking about a "crisis of governability,"
                 and coup rumors, which are always quick to fly in the feverish world of
                 Venezuelan politics, have surfaced again, although without any apparent foundation.

                 Chavez routinely scoffs at such rumors, and he repeated on Monday that there was
                 "not the slightest risk" of a military coup.

                 But critics say the pugnacious president has riled conservative officers in the armed
                 forces by forging friendly ties with communist Cuba and China, and by seeking to
                 involve the military in "revolutionary" social and economic reforms.

                 They add that these disgruntled officers, many trained in the United States, were
                 also concerned about what appeared to be anti-U.S. bias in the Chavez
                 government's foreign policy.

                 In their surprise statement, Rangel, who is a civilian, and the army, navy, air force
                 and national guard chiefs proclaimed their "transparent loyalty" to the head of state.

                 "President Hugo Chavez Frias enjoys and embodies a mandate of impeccable
                 popular origin and legitimacy," they said.

                 This was a reference to the widespread popular support three years ago that
                 propelled the ebullient former paratroop officer to the presidency in a landslide 1998
                 election.

                 Opinion polls indicate Chavez still has substantial backing among the South
                 American nation's 24 million people.

                 But his overall popularity has undoubtedly fallen, and critics say even some faithful
                 supporters have begun to tire of his long speeches and endless revolutionary
                 rhetoric.

                 Faced with popular frustration over enduring poverty, crime and unemployment,
                 Chavez has recently seen his woes compounded recently by the prospect that
                 sliding world oil prices may undermine Venezuela's heavily petroleum-dependent
                 economy.

                 All this has triggered renewed opposition threats of national strikes and protests and
                 calls for his resignation.

                 The Venezuelan military chiefs said they understood the need for free speech and
                 criticism in a democratic society.

                 But they warned that "any deliberate excess, contrary to legality, in the exercise of
                 freedom," could harm democracy.

                 Chavez ridiculed the opposition's verbal onslaughts against him, scornfully saying
                 they were "not new and not a threat."

                 "It's the same old story, that I'm crazy, Chavez the madman. Here comes the
                 madman! Watch out! We've got to stop the madman, communism, Cubanization,"
                 he said, with heavy irony.

                 He said the real reason behind the attacks on him was that his "revolutionary"
                 policies were threatening the "entrenched interests" of Venezuela's wealthy elite.

                 He cited a new Land Law about to be introduced by the government, which plans
                 to break up large, unused private rural estates and distribute land to poor peasants.

                    Copyright 2001 Reuters.