Chavez has a fight on his hands

Many oppose expansion of his powers

CARACAS, VENEZUELA -- Three days before a referendum that would vastly expand the powers of President Hugo Chavez, this city's streets were packed on Thursday with tens of thousands of people who oppose the change.

The protests signaled that Venezuelans may be balking at placing so much authority in the hands of one man.

Even some of Chavez's most fervent supporters are beginning to show signs of hesitation at backing the constitutional changes he is promoting, which would end term limits for the president and greatly centralize his authority. Other measures would increase social security benefits for the poor and shorten the workday.

New fissures are emerging in what was once a cohesive bloc of supporters, pointing to the toughest test at the polls for Chavez in his nine-year presidency.

In the slums of the capital, where some of the president's staunchest backers live, debate over the changes has grown more intense in recent days.

"Chavez is delirious if he thinks we're going to follow him like sheep," said Ivonne Torrealba, 29, a hairdresser in the gritty Coche district who has supported Chavez in every election since his first presidential campaign in 1998. "If this government cannot get me milk or asphalt for our roads, how is it going to give my mother a pension?"

Both Chavez, a self-described socialist who has won previous elections by wide margins, and his critics say opinion polls show they will prevail, suggesting a highly contentious outcome.

But departing from its practice in last year's presidential election, Venezuela did not invite electoral observers from the Organization of American States and the European Union, opening the government to claims of fraud if Chavez wins.

The intensified polarization has altered Caracas' appearance, with graffiti of "Si" by the president's supporters competing with "No" scrawled throughout Caracas. A pro-Chavez march is scheduled here for Friday before the frenetic campaigning around the referendum ends. Polls are to close at 5 p.m. Sunday, with results expected as early as that evening.

A fractured coalition

"I'm out here because I want my children to live in a country ruled by a president, not a king," said Alexander Davila, 42, a bank manager at Thursday's march who carried a sign reading, "Socialism is the philosophy of failure." Davila said, "All I want is for Venezuelans to live in peace."

Violence has already marred the weeks preceding the vote. Two students involved in anti-government protests claimed they had been kidnapped and tortured this week by masked men in Barquisimeto, an interior city. And in Valencia, another city, a supporter of Chavez was shot dead this week in an exchange of gunfire at a protest site.

Tension has also been heightened by rare criticism of the constitutional overhaul from a breakaway party in Chavez's coalition in the National Assembly and former confidants of the president; the government has reacted to this dissent by calling it "treason."

Some of the most stinging criticism in recent days has come from Marisabel Rodriguez, Chavez's ex-wife and the former first lady. In an interview this week with Caracol Radio of Colombia, Rodriguez said that the president had threatened her with death after she publicly criticized the government's policies.

Conspiracies in the wind

Chavez and senior officials here have exhibited increasingly erratic behavior ahead of the referendum. Chavez has lashed out at leaders in Colombia and Spain and asked for an investigation into whether CNN was seeking to incite an assassination attempt against him.