Chavez given absolute power

"The president needs this enabling law to deepen the revolution," said the politician Hermes Garcia as the National Assembly voted to grant the president special powers. "He needs these powers to take Venezuela to a truly socialist state."

Mr Chavez yesterday got "the mother of all revolutionary laws" that he called for after his landslide victory in December, so he can implement his new social and economic model, dubbed "Socialism of the 21st century".

The last time Mr Chavez was given these special powers was in November 2001 when he issued 49 decrees that prompted the opposition to stage massive street protests. These led to a coup in April 2002, allegedly backed by Washington, which unseated the president for 48 hours.

The opposition today has been decimated by eight years of Chavismo, but deep suspicion remains as to where Mr Chavez will take the country, even among his supporters. "Look, he is cooking up a new country," said John Szenaval, 34, a motorcycle courier. "The only problem is he alone gets to choose the ingredients that are being thrown into the pot, and so nobody is sure how it is going to taste. Plenty of gunpowder is going in as well, and that could explode any moment."

Mr Szenaval had stopped between deliveries in the Plaza Bolivar where the National Assembly held an outdoor session to vote on the new powers. In the centre of the square stands the statue of the liberation hero Simon Bolivar, the inspiration for Mr Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution".

The pigeons that sat on this iconic figure looked unfazed as below Chavista politicians called for the quick transition to "Socialism of the 21st century".

The details of this new model are hazy, but announcements made in January promise rapid change. There are plans for the nationalisation of key industries, starting with telecommunications, yet more control over the oil sector, the motor of the Venezuelan economy and the government chequebook, and the closing of an opposition television and radio network. One measure already announced is a change to the constitution to allow for indefinite presidential re-election as Mr Chavez insists he needs to stay in power until 2030 to consolidate his revolution.

The president has also called for a single United Socialist Party to incorporate the disparate group of political organisations that support him.

"We are now in the greatest lottery in Venezuelan history," said Margarita Ramirez, 27, a law student. "Nobody is really sure how the president's plans are going to turn out and what his socialism will mean for us. But we trust him."

While the crowd of Chavistas in their trademark red shirts gathered in Plaza Bolivar, another crowd was forming orderly lines outside the United States embassy, waiting to get visas to leave the country.

"I have no desire to live in another Cuba," said Marta Henao, 52, who is hoping to join her daughter living in Miami. "He can make all the flowery speeches he wants, but he wants total power and that means an end to democracy and freedom."

Washington, for whom Mr Chavez has replaced Cuba's Fidel Castro as regional nemesis, criticised the direction Venezuela was taking. US officials have said that not only has Mr Chavez's undermined democracy in his own country, but he is also a threat to his neighbours.

"He has been trying to export his kind of radical populism and I think that his behaviour is threatening to democracies in the region," said John Negroponte, the US deputy Secretary of State.

The Chavez regime, which seldom misses an opportunity to attack George Bush, the US president, or his administration, was quick to respond. "Mr Negroponte represents a real threat to peace and democracy. Latin America has the worst memories of this subject when he was an instrument of genocidal and imperialist policies in Central America," the foreign ministry said.

Mr Chavez is winning his war with Washington for influence in Latin America and was bolstered last year by the elections of two allies to the presidencies of Ecuador and Nicaragua, strengthening his regional bloc made up of Cuba and Bolivia.

CASTRO BACK ON CUBAN TV

CUBAN state television showed Fidel Castro, the country's ailing leader, for the first time in three months yesterday

Mr Castro, 80, looked stronger than he had in a previous video but said he was still fighting to recover from surgery that forced him to give up power last July. "This is far from being a lost battle," he said in an almost unintelligible voice.

The new footage, which showed him standing up and sipping orange juice, came from a two-hour meeting he had on Monday with Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president.

Mr Castro was last seen in a 28 October video clip looking very frail and walking with difficulty. He appeared to have put on weight in the latest images.

Cuba has denied that he has stomach cancer, but his precise illness is a state secret. He is thought to be suffering from diverticulitis, a disorder of the large intestine.

Mr Chavez, who has built a close economic relationship with Cuba, told his mentor in the five-minute clip that he brought him "the embrace of millions who admire you, love you, need you and follow you step by step".

He went on: "There is Fidel standing, in one piece."