December 8, 1999
                  Web posted at: 11:11 a.m. EST (1611 GMT)

                  CARACAS, Venezuela -- In the run-up to a national referendum on a new
                  constitution, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says his fiery rhetoric is not
                  dividing the nation.

                  The former coup leader has called opponents "degenerates" and members of
                  a "rancid oligarchy," provoking criticism that he was polarizing the country
                  and trying to intimidate critics.

                  But Chavez said Tuesday that the oil-rich South American nation "has been
                  broken in pieces since a long time ago," fractured between a wealthy elite
                  and millions of poor people.

                  "Who can think that Hugo Chavez, because I have a direct discourse ... is
                  going to fragment a society?" he asked.

                  Chavez told a rally of university students that Venezuela is divided between
                  "a small part of Venezuelans who have everything" and "a large majority who
                  barely receive a drop to survive on."

                 National referendum on December 15

                  Chavez, a former paratrooper who led a failed 1992 coup in the name of the
                  poor and was elected president a year ago in a landslide, has been stepping
                  up attacks on opponents of the new constitution. The document was drafted
                  by an assembly controlled by his supporters and will be put to voters
                  December 15.

                  Critics say the constitution will concentrate power in his hands, reduce
                  civilian control of the military, and lead to censorship and heavy state
                  intervention in the economy.

                  But Chavez, who says he is leading a "peaceful revolution," contends the
                  constitution will strengthen Venezuela's discredited democracy, help clean up
                  some of the world's worst corruption, protect human rights and the
                  environment, and lay the foundations for economic development.

                  "We are happily living a process of regeneration," he said Tuesday.

                 Visit to Cuba sparked controversy

                  A poll released Tuesday showed that 67 percent of Venezuelans support the
                  new constitution, and 33 percent plan to vote against it. The private polling
                  firm Datanalisis questioned 1,000 people throughout the country last
                  weekend. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.

                  Chavez provoked controversy last month when he visited Cuba and praised
                  that country's communist revolution. He has also stoked criticism with his
                  harsh attacks on the media, businessmen, opposition politicians and some
                  church leaders, whom he largely blames for Venezuela's troubles.

                  Venezuela sits atop the Western Hemisphere's largest oil reserves, but more
                  than half its population is impoverished.

                 'We came here to carry out a revolution!'

                  On Monday, Chavez spoke at a rally to mark the first anniversary of his
                  presidential election victory. He said the upcoming referendum on the charter
                  would spell the end for the country's traditional political elite.

                  He vowed to deal his political foes a "thundering knockout," predicting an 80
                  percent vote in favor of the proposed constitution that would consummate
                  his political "revolution."

                  "They were wrong about me. They can't put brakes or reins on me. I cannot
                  be dominated by the oligarchy," he told a crowd of about 2,000 supporters
                  gathered in the street outside the presidential palace in central Caracas.

                  "We didn't come here to mess about. We came here to carry out a
                  revolution!" he said to wild cheers and volleys of firecrackers.

                  Political tension has been mounting in the country of 23 million people as
                  Chavez seeks to head off stiff opposition to the new charter.

                  Opposition politicians, economists and business groups have said the charter
                  contains costly and unrealistic state obligations in health, education and social
                  security, and removes congressional supervision of military promotions and
                  gives the president the power to shut down Congress.

                  Chavez, who under the new constitution could rule for another 12 years if
                  re-elected at the end of his first term, called it "the best in the American
                  continent" and said it reflected the ideals of 19th-century South American
                  independence hero Simon Bolivar.

                  "There can be no revolution without ideology, and ours is neither neoliberal
                  nor Marxist, he said. ... We have our own roots. ... We have the Bolivarian
                  ideology."