CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- He gives fiery speeches that last hours,
                  dons military garb, barely sleeps, loves baseball, preaches revolution in Latin
                  America and provokes both fanatic admiration and deep hatred.

                  Venezuela's new president, Hugo Chavez, is giving Cuba's Fidel Castro a
                  run for the role of Latin America's most long-winded and controversial
                  politician.

                  Like Castro once did, Chavez is captivating the poor with talk of shaking up
                  the system, attacking corruption and reducing poverty.

                  The question is whether he will become just another Latin American
                  "caudillo," or political boss, who only spouts populist rhetoric, or whether he
                  will bring true democracy and "people power" to Venezuela.

                  The former army paratrooper who led a failed coup seven years ago
                  provided ammunition for both sides of those opposing views.

                  He stunned the country by breaking with tradition during his inauguration
                  Tuesday when, right hand in the air, he called the constitution "moribund."

                  Hours later he issued a presidential decree calling for a national vote on
                  forming a constituent assembly to write a new constitution -- with Chavez
                  setting the rules for how the assembly delegates would be elected.

                  Two days later, he ordered fellow coup plotters from two 1992 military
                  rebellions back into the ranks of the armed forces, describing them as
                  "heroes." He also said the military will assume a bigger role in society,
                  building roads, tilling farms and providing medical care.

                  Chavez already had named several former coup participants to senior
                  government posts, including Caracas governor, transportation minister and
                  secret police chief.

                  "We're seeing the first signs of a caudillo and not a modern chief of state,"
                  said Guillermo Moron, one of Venezuela's leading historians.

                  Castro's highly visible presence at inauguration events also unnerved some of
                  Venezuela's wealthy elite, who think Chavez wants to install a communist
                  regime.

                  Yet Venezuela's poor masses are enthralled with Chavez and feel that for the
                  first time in decades they have a voice in government. Chavez, the son of
                  humble teachers from rural Venezuela, is winning admirers by taking major
                  decisions like the constituent assembly straight to the people.

                  He says a new constitution would create "true democracy" by breaking up
                  political mafias that have squandered Venezuela's oil wealth, the largest
                  reserves outside the Middle East, and left more than half the country's 23
                  million people in poverty.

                  "If there's anyone who can make the changes this country needs, it's him,"
                  said Ezequiel Hernandez, a retired librarian.

                  U.S. officials, which until recently had barred Chavez from entering the
                  United States because of his attempted coup, were cautiously optimistic
                  after his inauguration.

                  "I think Chavez is a potential leader in the hemisphere," said Energy
                  Secretary Bill Richardson, who was in Caracas for the inauguration. "He is a
                  bright, street-smart individual who is developing a lot of political skills."

                  Chavez can keep an audience's attention for hours -- like Castro, who has
                  been known to speak for eight hours or more. He mixes ferocious attacks
                  on corrupt politicians with anecdotes about poor people, jokes, comments
                  on baseball games and references to everyone from Jesus to Walt Whitman
                  to South American independence hero Simon Bolivar -- the inspiration for
                  Chavez's political movement.

                  "Here, a true moral, political and ethical revolution has broken out," Chavez
                  said during his two-hour inaugural address. "If we don't give direction to this
                  unleashed force, it will go out of control."

                  Like Castro, Chavez understands the importance of symbols. Castro has his
                  trademark battle fatigues; Chavez has his red paratrooper's beret, which
                  thousands of supporters don at rallies.

                  His opponents fear Chavez will imitate more than just Castro's symbols and
                  rhetoric. They note the two men are good friends and talked at length after
                  Castro arrived in Caracas last Monday.

                  Chavez "wants to make himself into a kind of second Fidel Castro for
                  Venezuela," said the Rev. Jose Virtuoso, a Jesuit priest.

                  Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.