BY FRANCES ROBLES

                      CARACAS -- Capt. Pedro Flores Rivero joined Venezuela's military academy in 1985, graduated from the
                      National Guard in '89 and has been captain for almost five years.

                      Thursday night, he was in uniform at a Caracas plaza, denouncing President Hugo Chávez and firing up
                      the masses. This morning, after a weekend in hiding, he's expected to report to his superiors to field
                      questions like: Are you plotting a coup?

                      He might be arrested. His actions most certainly will end his career.

                      ''I joined the military to protect the country and defend its institutions,'' said Flores, one of two military
                      officers whose public calls for Chávez's ouster led thousands to the streets late last week. ``I see
                      everything but that. I see totalitarianism.

                      ``Chávez is promoting his own revolution.''

                      ROCKY RELATIONSHIP

                      Flores' act of insubordination -- brave or crazy -- has highlighted Chávez's rocky relationship with the
                      military.

                      In a setting where the president is facing increasing hostility from labor, business and the church, the
                      addition of the military to his long list of adversaries has many worried.

                      Although they deny it, some fear Flores and Air Force Col. Pedro Soto were conspiring to overthrow the
                      president.

                      Their two-man uprising occurred Thursday, when Soto got up in the middle of a media forum to call for
                      the president to step down.

                      When the military police tried to arrest him as a TV news camera rolled, thousands of people rallied in
                      his support.

                      In an interview Sunday, Flores claims he saw Soto for the first time on the Thursday evening news.

                      `LIKE A VOLCANO'

                      He said his anger over Chávez's friendliness with Cuba and politicization of the military boiled inside him
                      ``like a volcano.''

                      ''I saw him [Soto] on television, talking about being all alone in this struggle,'' Flores said. ''I asked
                      myself: how long can I live this lie?'' He said he got in his car and joined him.

                      In an interview with Chilean TV Saturday night, Chávez accused the men -- he called them ''traitors'' --
                      of staging a ''show'' deliberately aimed at destabilizing the government. His vice president said a
                      television station conspired with them.

                      There is ''no risk'' of a coup, Chávez said.

                      STRAINED RELATIONS

                      Chávez's relationship with the military has been strained since he took power in 1998.

                      He was forced to replace his defense minister last year over the handling of a scandal that erupted
                      when someone anonymously mailed women's underpants to military brass.

                      The underwear were supposed to symbolize that the officers were pansies, bending to Chávez's
                      whims. The president had already put soldiers to toil building roads and schools and had appointed
                      scores of officers to government ministries and state enterprises.

                      The appointment of a military critic as defense minister sparked rumors of a coup. Nearly two years ago,
                      another National Guard captain publicly announced the creation of a military-civilian junta aimed at
                      ousting Chávez.

                      Luis García Morales, a captain who was kicked out of the National Guard for making a video condemning
                      Chávez, says Soto and Flores are not part of his junta. In an interview Sunday, Garcia claimed the junta
                      that began with 15 captains now has 1,500 members from the military.

                      `AVOID BLOODSHED'

                      ''Our intent is to avoid bloodshed,'' he said. ``A coup would be the last resort. It will not be necessary:
                      Chavez will not last past June.''

                      More rallies are expected today, when Soto and Flores must report to their bases for the first time since
                      their act of defiance. Flores, 35, expects to be booted from the guard, where he makes about $700 a
                      month.

                      ''It would be sad if all this was in vain,'' he said. ``Your conscience has to speak louder than your
                      uniform.''