Venezuela is building a civilian militia

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez constantly warns Venezuelans a U.S. invasion is imminent.

Now he's begun training a civilian militia as well as the Venezuelan army to resist in the only way possible against a much better-equipped force: by taking to the hills and fighting a guerrilla war.

Supporters of the president, a former paratroop commander, are increasingly taking up his call. Chávez wants 1 million armed men and women in the army reserve, and 150,000 have already joined, surpassing the regular military's force of 100,000. Now Venezuelans are also organizing neighborhood-based militia units for Chávez's Territorial Guard.

Critics say Chávez's real goal is to create the means to suppress internal dissent and defend his presidency at all costs. Thousands of Territorial Guard volunteers — housewives, students, construction workers — are undergoing training, earning $7.45 per session.

Venezuela's citizen-soldiers come mostly from the slums where Chávez draws his fiercest support. They train on weekends, learning how to handle assault rifles and run obstacle courses through clouds of tear gas.

Chávez insists the plotters of a 2002 coup that briefly unseated him had Washington's blessing. The United States quickly recognized the interim leaders; U.S. intelligence documents indicate the CIA knew dissident military officers were plotting against Chávez.

U.S. troops would "bite the dust," he maintains, if they try to oust him and seize Venezuela's vast oil reserves. Top defense officials say the country must prepare for "asymmetrical" war — military parlance for using nonconventional means against a traditional army.

Chávez on Wednesday told other South American leaders his government would blow up his country's oil fields if the United States should ever attack Venezuela, which is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter and one of the biggest suppliers to the U.S. market.

Venezuela's army reserve has grown from 30,000 in 2004, says Gen. Alberto Muller Rojas, a top military adviser to Chávez.

The reservists are to be issued some of the army's older Belgian FAL assault rifles once Venezuela receives 100,000 new Kalashnikovs from Russia — approximately one for every regular soldier.

U.S. officials express concern that Chávez could be trying to export revolution. Chávez calls that an invention, and says the weapons will be needed for the 1 million Venezuelans he wants to arm. The civilian militias will not be issued firearms, but their commanders say weapons would be made available in an emergency.

Rather than trying to topple Chávez with an invasion, it's more likely Washington is trying to undermine him by courting potential rivals within the military, says Larry Birns of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs.

Chávez has in turn sought to reward loyalty, granting handsome pay raises throughout the military. He expelled a U.S. military attaché in February, accusing him of espionage. Washington expelled a Venezuelan diplomat in retaliation and has denied any attempts to overthrow Chávez.

Chávez reminds his people the United States invaded Grenada and Panama to topple regimes it considered hostile. In both cases, resistance quickly crumbled.

Cuba's defeat of a CIA-trained force at the Bay of Pigs in 1961 is the model Chávez wants to follow.

Chávez marked that battle's 45th anniversary on Tuesday, appearing with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and describing the 2002 coup as Venezuela's own Bay of Pigs.

Chávez said his military had detected a U.S. aircraft carrier and submarines off the coast and U.S. planes and helicopters over land at the time. And he criticized U.S. naval exercises in the Caribbean this month as another threat to both Venezuela and Cuba.