CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez is making good on
                  his promise to grant a bigger, more political role to Venezuela's armed forces
                  -- calling into question the country's decades-old tradition of civilian rule.

                  Since taking office six months ago, the former army paratrooper has
                  dispatched tens of thousands of soldiers to build public works, promoted 34
                  top officers without required congressional approval and appointed generals
                  to senior government posts, including chief of staff and head of the secret
                  police.

                  Chavez's detractors say he is militarizing politics and politicizing the military.
                  The president is filling everything from the state-run oil company to the tax
                  collection agency with loyalist soldiers.

                  Critics say getting ahead in the 120,000-member armed forces means
                  supporting Chavez's leftist Fifth Republic Movement, even though soldiers
                  are still not allowed to vote or hold political party membership.

                  "There is a symbiosis between the armed forces and a political party, and
                  this is the first time this has happened in Venezuela," said retired Gen.
                  Fernando Ochoa Antich, who was defense minister during Chavez's famous
                  1992 coup attempt.

                  In a military ceremony in April, Chavez reinstated 37 discharged soldiers
                  who helped him stage his putsch, calling them "patriots and anonymous
                  heroes."

                  At least six generals who opposed Chavez during last year's presidential
                  campaign have been relieved of active duty, and former army chief Gen.
                  Ruben Rojas Perez has been indicted on corruption charges.

                  The president, who enjoys widespread popularity among the armed forces,
                  at times appears in public wearing combat fatigues or a medal-studded
                  officer's uniform.

                  Starting in September, he will send soldiers to public schools to teach
                  military doctrine to children. Officials make no attempt at denying a new role
                  for the military.

                  "Can a country with the needs of Venezuela give itself the luxury of having
                  unused installed capacity, like personnel from the armed forces?" Foreign
                  Minister Jose Vicente Rangel asked in an interview with The Associated
                  Press. "If we need engineers, sociologists and lawyers, must we dispense
                  with them simply because they wear a uniform?"

                  Critics are asking a very different question: Can democracy coexist with the
                  militarization of civilian institutions?

                  It has taken Latin America decades to overcome its long history of military
                  repression -- every country except Cuba has now adopted democracy --
                  and many are wondering if Venezuela, which boasts one of the region's
                  oldest democracies, is backsliding into a dark past.

                  "Latin America should have learned by now, and most countries have, that
                  military governments are not the answer," said Michael Shifter, a senior
                  fellow at Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

                  After the 1992 coup attempt, many officers considered Chavez a traitor for
                  rising up against his superiors and disobeying his officer's oath. So when he
                  became president, securing support among the armed forces was a top
                  priority.

                  He appears to have succeeded. Unlike countries such as Chile and
                  Argentina, where officers often come from the middle and upper classes,
                  much of the Venezuelan brass is from the working class, and appreciates
                  Chavez's agenda championing the rights of the poor.

                  Many also like Chavez's tirades against the corrupt manner in which officers
                  often were promoted in previous governments, some by currying favor from
                  presidential mistresses.

                  "The president has almost total control of the armed forces, because as a
                  military man he has vindicated the armed forces in the face of the damaging
                  political interference of the past," said retired Vice Admiral Mario Ivan
                  Carratu, a military expert famous for taking then-President Carlos Andres
                  Perez to safety during Chavez's coup attempt.

                  Chavez's military support also reflects the fact that generals and colonels are
                  now administering more than a billion dollars earmarked for development
                  projects. In Chavez's showcase Bolivar 2000 initiative, 70,000 soldiers have
                  fanned out across Venezuela to help fix roads, build schools and till farms.

                  Some Venezuelans see the changes in the armed forces as a double-edged
                  sword for Chavez, since a politicized, empowered army could one day turn
                  against him.

                  But Chavez is diffusing the military's power base, says Carratu. He says
                  Chavez has increased the number of four-star generals, vice admirals,
                  brigadier generals, rear admirals, colonels and navy captains by 12 percent,
                  thus "diminishing the internal authority of the armed forces" and making an
                  uprising less likely.

                  Many are hoping the military's 40-year tradition of professionalism will
                  ultimately prevail over the attempts to politicize it. One promising sign is the
                  appointment of Gen. Raul Salazar as defense minister. He has vowed to
                  uphold the armed forces' respect for civilian rule.

                  "Bring me one officer who inscribes himself in a political party and I will
                  personally remove him," he told the AP.