By ANDREW SELSKY
  Associated Press Writer

  CARACAS, Venezuela - (AP) -- The businessman picked by army commanders to lead Venezuela postponed the swearing-in of his new Cabinet on
  Saturday as supporters of ousted leader Hugo Chavez protested in the streets and several Latin American nations called the new government
  illegitimate.

  Soldiers in the central city of Maracay, where most of the country's armed forces are based rebelled against the new government, said an official in the
  new government on condition of anonymity. He gave no details on the size of the mutiny and said negotiations continued with the rebellious officers.

  At the presidential palace, repeated gunfire could be heard coming from the sprawling Catia slum nearby. Police cars raced into the slum, one of Caracas'
  largest and a stronghold of support for Chavez. About 200 people chanted ''Chavez! Chavez!'' outside the palace; police occasionally fired tear gas at
  them.

  Carmona postponed the scheduled inauguration of his new Cabinet at the palace as officials abruptly expelled journalists from the building.

  The business leader was named the new interim president Friday after top army commanders confronted Chavez in his palace and had him taken into
  custody over the bloody repression of an opposition rally in Caracas on Thursday.

  Mexican President Vicente Fox said his country would not recognize Venezuela's new government until new elections are held, and the leaders of
  Argentina and Paraguay called the new government illegitimate. Leaders of the 19-nation Rio Group of Latin American countries condemned ''the
  interruption of constitutional order'' in Venezuela.

  Since Chavez's ouster, police and soldiers have been cracking down with arrests of some members of his government and hunting for groups of his
  supporters thought to have been given weapons before Chavez fell.

  The military says Chavez resigned before being detained, but his supporters angrily deny the claim and call the military's move a coup.

  Pro-Chavez protests were reported in at least 20 neighborhoods throughout the capital, Caracas, as well as the cities of Los Teques, Guarenas, Maracay
  and Coro. ''We want to see Chavez. The Venezuelan people don't buy it that he has resigned,'' said Maria Brito, 36, who lives in the Catia slum.

  Chavez has had his strongest support among Venezuela's poor, though over time his once huge popularity dwindled as he clashed with many of the
  country's sectors in his bid to impose a ''revolution'' he said aimed to end corruption.

  He had long alienated the United States with his ties to Castro and Iraq, his alleged connection to leftist Colombian guerrillas.

  Earlier Saturday, Carmona -- who has promised elections within a year -- dissolved the Chavez-controlled Congress, Supreme Court, attorney general's
  and comptroller's offices, and declared a 1999 Constitution sponsored by Chavez null and void.

  The state-run oil company has been working to quickly return production to normal, after it was severely cut by strikes against Chavez. Venezuela is the
  third biggest oil supplier to the United States and the world's fourth biggest exporter.

  ''We can achieve the governability required to improve Venezuela's image,'' Carmona said. ``The strongman era has ended.''

  But Carmona's decrees -- and even his installment -- drew immediate criticism. Tania D'Amelio, a lawmaker of Chavez's party, said her party planned to
  hold a session of Congress on Monday despite Carmona's proclamations. ''This is an illegitimate measure by an illegitimate government,'' she said.

  Rights groups said state security forces under Carmona's control were committing human rights abuses in their crackdoen on Chavez supporters.

  ''There have been detentions that are not legal and don't respect the Constitution,'' said Liliana Ortega, director of the local Cofavic rights organization.
  New York-based Human Rights Watch warned that rights and the rule of law were threatened in Venezuela.

  Security forces conducted house to house searches Friday for members of ''Bolivarian Circles'' -- Chavez-backed neighborhood groups styled after Cuba's
  Revolutionary Block Committees that opponents say were armed. Police raided storehouses and government offices and seized dozens of weapons.

  Police on Friday arrested at least three politicians allied with Chavez, including Tarek William Saab, a congressman. Saab's wife, Francis Fernino, said 100
  people had gathered outside the couple's home, calling for Saab's blood before he was arrested. Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin was also
  arrested.

  Four other Chavez-allied politicians were believed to have sought refuge in the Cuban Embassy, which was besieged by some 500 protesters who
  trashed cars outside the compound and pelted it with eggs, demanding that the four be handed over.

  Cuba's government condemned the harassment and called on the United Nations to investigate the overthrow of Chavez, a close friend of Fidel Castro.

  Thousands of Cubans demonstrated Saturday in Havana to protest Chavez's removal.

  Earlier Saturday, Carmona and newly appointed Foreign Minister Jose Rodriguez Iturbe met with the ambassadors of the United States and Spain, which
  holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Officials did not immediately give any details of the talks.

  Chavez could face charges over the bloodshed at Thursday rally of some 150,000 people demanding his ouster. Chavez had ordered National Guard
  troops and civilian gunmen, including rooftop snipers, to fire on the marchers Thursday military officers said. At least 16 people were killed and some 350
  wounded, authorities said Saturday. Some of them had died of their wounds in hospitals.

  Chavez's daughter, Maria Gabriela Chavez, said in an interview with Cuban television aired Saturday that her family had received information that Chavez
  had been moved by helicopter overnight from the base to an unknown location.

  She and other Chavez backers deny he resigned.

  Ex-Education Minister Aristobulo Isturiz said top commanders military ``want to call this anything, make Venezuelans believe that a junta took over
  because of a vacuum of power after Chavez resigned. But the truth is, there was a coup d'etat here.''

  Former National Assembly President Willian Lara, who was present when Venezuela's military confronted Chavez Friday, told The Associated Press that
  Chavez refused to resign.

  Carmona, the 60-year-old head of Venezuela's largest business chamber, had played a key role in a general strike this week that snowballed into
  Chavez's ouster.