BY FRANCES ROBLES

                      CARACAS - In a two-hour televised speech to the nation recently, President Hugo Chávez asked Venezuelans to
                      help him be nicer.

                      ''I call on everyone to help me sheath my sword,'' he appealed. ``Let's put it in the memory trunk and forget it.''

                      Many Venezuelans would say the paratrooper-turned-president is right -- he desperately needs to soften his
                      combative image. But Chávez's quandary goes far deeper than mere rhetoric or behavior. Three years after
                      assuming office and having things his way for virtually the entire time, Chávez's popularity has never been lower.

                      On Monday, Vice Adm. Carlos Molina Tamayo, a U.S.-trained electronics warfare expert, became the highest
                      ranking officer to demand that Chávez resign -- the third time this month that a military officer has expressed
                      open disdain for the president.

                      ''He hasn't just lost the trust of the people, he gained their hate,'' said Aníbal Romero, a political analyst who has
                      pushed for Chávez's ouster.

                      The reasons behind Chávez's political decline have to do with his confrontational style and circumstances beyond
                      his control, such as the price of oil, mainstay of the Venezuelan economy. With prices falling sharply, his budget
                      gap has never been steeper, and the clamor for his removal has never been louder.

                      Chávez became president in February 1999 with a mandate to boot out the old-style elite political parties and
                      create a more open style of government. He vowed to alleviate poverty in the oil-rich country.

                      At first, it looked as if he might do it, thanks to a dizzying increase that saw the price of a barrel of Venezuelan
                      crude oil go from $9.45 to more than $20 within a few months, rising to $23.42 one year after he took office,
                      according to U.S. Department of Energy figures.

                      OIL PRODUCERS

                      Because Venezuela is one of the world's leading oil producers, this meant Chávez had more than enough money
                      to throw at social programs designed to help the disadvantaged. He continued an expanded school calendar and
                      swore he would give land to the poor. Throughout it all, his popularity remained high and his treasury full.

                      But during the past year, oil prices have fallen to $17.68 a barrel, and Chávez's ability to use money to resolve
                      his country's social ills has diminished sharply. He announced recently that the drop in oil prices has created a 22
                      percent budget gap.

                      Growth last year was a modest 3 percent and unemployment has risen to about 12 percent. The economic
                      downturn provided ammunition to the president's many critics. Although Chávez announced economic measures
                      that experts agree are sound -- floating his currency against the dollar instead of trying to maintain a fixed rate --
                      they have diminished his treasury even more. The currency lost nearly 10 percent of its value against the dollar
                      last week.

                      The political crisis has also left investors uneasy, with treasury reserves falling by $2 billion, or 17 percent, since
                      November.

                      For the moment, Chávez has been left with only a portion of the poor and his Fifth Republic Movement party, or
                      MVR, allies on his side, and there is no clear sign that he can improve his standing with a public that looks
                      increasingly fed up.

                      According to a Datanalisis poll, Chávez has a 35 percent approval rating, a 20 point drop in five months. Experts
                      note that his popularity was bound to sink: He took office with an 80 percent approval rating that was impossible
                      to maintain. But polls show even the poor have begun to lose faith.

                      ''This is the most complex time he's ever faced,'' said Datanalisis director Luis Vicente Leon. ``This is the worst
                      period he's experienced so far -- but it will get much worse.''

                      SWEEPING CHANGES

                      Most critics were particularly incensed when Chávez decreed sweeping changes in the law affecting the private
                      sector, including a measure that expropriates land deemed to be under-used. He regularly insults his enemies,
                      and recently took on the Catholic Church, calling one bishop a ''devil.'' His fiery diatribes against the press led to
                      the bombing of a local newspaper.

                      Now his adversaries include the business community, labor unions, the middle class, neighboring countries -- and
                      the church. The opposition has taken to calling him ''El Chalibán,'' a play on the word Taliban.

                      The snowballing size of the opposition has led to increasing social and political tension. In December, an unlikely
                      alliance -- business and labor -- conducted a one-day strike to protest Chávez' laws. A month later, a massive
                      march took place in the streets; Chávez had the government TV station broadcast a Catholic Mass instead.

                      This month, two previously unknown military officials publicly called for Chávez's ouster, saying they enjoyed the
                      support of three-quarters of the rank and file. When military police tried to arrest one -- a dissident colonel --
                      thousands of Venezuelans rushed to a plaza in protest.

                      On Monday, Molina accused Chávez and the National Assembly, Supreme Court, elections board and finance
                      ministry, all dominated by Chávez allies, of seeking to impose a totalitarian regime.

                      `BOLIVARIAN CIRCLES'

                      He warned that Chávez's divisive rhetoric and pro-government neighborhood committees known as ''Bolivarian
                      Circles,'' could provoke unnecessary bloodshed.

                      If Chávez's popularity continues to fall and emboldens his opponents, the prospects for finishing his term could be
                      dimmed. Chávez and his supporters, however, insist the likelihood of a coup is zero.

                      ''The president enjoys great popularity among the people and the military,'' said Tarek William Saab, head of the
                      National Assembly's foreign policy committee. ``We have had lots of stages. 1999 was difficult. 2001 was a tough
                      test, and there will be more difficult tests.''

                      In a public appearance recently, Chávez blamed his troubles on opponents in congress. ''Instead of being
                      constructive, they want to obstruct,'' Chávez said. ``They are fighting reforms on taxes, credit, employment, etc.
                      Their plan is to sabotage.''

                      GLUM MOOD

                      All of this has left Venezuela in a glum mood, a feeling that the nation is in a downward spiral. ''People are
                      frustrated,'' said Dennise Alvarez, a secretary who stood in an hour-deep line this week to buy dollars.

                      ``It's not just the middle class, it's every class. We would rather have someone else, but there are no other
                      options. What we can't do is expect anyone to be our savior -- that's what happened when we voted for Chávez.''