CARACAS (Reuters) -- Venezuela's presidential race turned venomous on
                  Tuesday when the main rival to front-runner and former army coup leader
                  Hugo Chavez accused him of being a monster and a potential dictator.

                  Independent Henrique Salas, his candidacy boosted by the last-minute
                  support of the country's two traditional and dominant political parties, cast
                  rival Chavez as a villain bent on smashing democratic institutions.

                  "Chavez presents himself as the sole standard bearer of justice in this
                  country, but he is a monster in Venezuelan politics ... a potential dictator,"
                  Salas, 62, a respected former state governor and the business community
                  favorite, told a television interviewer.

                  He ridiculed the retired army lieutenant-colonel's democratic credentials,
                  saying the failed coup attempt in 1992 which thrust Chavez into the limelight
                  was "a violent attack against constitutional rule."

                  Salas, who said Monday that Chavez behaved like "a coward" during his
                  attempted coup, was trailing by 12 percentage points on 37.7 percent in the
                  latest opinion poll published Friday.

                  But he has since received the unexpected formal backing of the two parties
                  that have dominated Venezuelan politics in 40 years of democratic rule,
                  left-of-center Democratic Action (AD) and center-right Copei.

                  Former President Carlos Andres Perez, a well-connected and acute
                  observer of local politics, issued a grim warning that the military might not
                  tolerate a Chavez victory on Sunday.

                  "We have to admit that we're in sight of a possible coup d'etat," he said in a
                  statement read to reporters.

                  He gave no details but said there was a real threat in an atmosphere of fear
                  of "a violent rupture of the constitutional order."

                  Rumors surfaced six weeks ago that factions within the military were plotting
                  to deny the presidency to Chavez. President Rafael Caldera, who pardoned
                  Chavez in 1994 for his failed coup, emphatically rejected them at the time.

                  Perez himself faced two coup attempts in 1992, including the one on Feb. 4
                  led by Chavez. He was forced from office in May 1993, seven months
                  before completing his mandate, and was later convicted of corruption.

                  The last-minute efforts to consolidate an anti-Chavez front included the
                  unprecedented decision by both AD and Copei to dump their respective
                  flagging presidential nominees: Luis Alfaro, 77, and former Miss Universe
                  Irene Saez, 36.

                  Local pollsters said it was anybody's guess where AD and Copei voters
                  would go Sunday but that Chavez, who preaches political revenge and
                  embodies a radical change that alarms investors, still held a sizable lead.

                  "Hugo Chavez still looks like the strongest candidate," said Luis Vicente
                  Leon, director of the Datanalisis polling company.

                  "There's little time left and the political scene is extremely changeable ... one
                  doesn't know if Salas will get these (AD and Copei) votes or whether
                  people will see all this as a dirty play by the traditional parties," he told
                  Reuters,

                  Chavez, 44, who campaigns on a fiery mixture of populism and nationalism
                  that strikes a chord with Venezuela's impoverished majority, mocked these
                  alliances.

                  Alfaro, who had ruled AD with an iron fist for 20 years, has refused to
                  withdraw from the presidential race and insisted the candidacy could not be
                  snatched from him.

                  Saez, who was the most popular presidential candidate at the start of the
                  year, retained her original status as an independent and gave back to Copei
                  a presidential ticket "that never belonged to me."

                   Copyright 1998 Reuters.