Ex-military chief criticizes Chavez power moves

CARACAS (Reuters) - An ex-military chief assailed Monday President Hugo Chavez's moves to expand his powers through a referendum in a rare show of discontent with the Venezuelan leader from a long-time ally in the armed forces.

Raul Baduel, who was the armed forces head as defense minister until July and well-known for helping restore Chavez to power in a brief 2002 coup, also raised the specter that the military might not fully back the ex-paratrooper's policies.

"This (reform) would in effect be a coup, shamelessly violating the text and implementation of the constitution," the retired general said at a news conference he called as the referendum campaign intensified.

Chavez, who vows to rule the OPEC nation for decades and calls Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, wants to overhaul the constitution to scrap presidential term limits in a package of reforms that must be approved in the Dec. 2 referendum.

The opposition, the Roman Catholic church, university students and rights groups condemn the changes as authoritarian but polls show Chavez's popularity among the majority poor will likely secure him a win.

The proposed constitutional package also strips the central bank of its autonomy, gives Chavez direct control over international currency reserves and opens the way for media censorship if the president declares a state of emergency.

Chavez, who led his own failed coup in 1992 as a lieutenant colonel, was first elected six years later and has repeatedly won national votes, including an easy re-election last year.

He says he needs more time to turn Venezuela into a socialist state and touts the constitutional change as a way of empowering ordinary voters by funneling funds to grass-roots community councils.

One important political party has split with Chavez because of his proposal. But the opposition is fragmented and has little support among the poor, who see Chavez as their champion for lavishing oil income on clinics and subsidized food.

MILITARY POLITICS

International investors, who are generally willing to buy up Venezuela's debt issues but worry about Chavez's economic policies, typically look to his political supporters and the military to analyze signs of possible political instability.

The opposition criticizes Chavez for politicizing the military, which has adopted his slogan "Homeland, socialism or death."

Baduel said the military had an institutional instinct to obey the executive but that it would not blindly follow the president.

"It is possible to perceive that at the heart of our institution there is not complete acceptance of everything that is imposed on it," he said at a news conference.

Periodically, leading political figures have broken with Chavez, although few have had Baduel's stature.

Vice President Jorge Rodriguez dismissed Baduel as a "traitor" who merely echoed opposition criticism.

Political analysts and diplomats generally believe Chavez has a tight control over the military and uses annual promotions to deepen his supporters' influence in the ranks.

Gianfranco Bertozzi of Lehman Brothers advised investors in a research note against discounting Baduel's criticism but predicted Chavez would keep control over the armed forces.

"The military may be further purged if required, but constitutional reform is a done deal with the electorate, regardless of Baduel. And no revolt is coming either," he wrote. (Writing and additional reporting by Saul Hudson; editing by Brian Ellsworth and Cynthia Osterman)