Venezuela`s Chavez Celebrates 10 Years In Office

`We have done in 10 years what couldn`t be done in one century,` Chavez wrote to his supporters on Sunday.

President Hugo Chavez marked 10 years in office on Monday, declaring a national holiday to celebrate just hours before the anniversary in a sign of how personalized his grip on Venezuela has become.

Chavez, a former paratrooper who once sought power in a coup that failed, celebrated the milestone in the middle of a closely fought campaign for a Feb. 15 referendum on allowing him to run for re-election.

The self-styled socialist revolutionary, who vows to govern for decades, hosted a summit of Latin America leftists for the celebrations, helping burnish his credentials as a regional leader before the vote.

Presidents of countries with small economies that have received cheap oil from Chavez such as Nicaragua and Honduras arrived in an unusually quiet Caracas to fete him.

Large crowds of supporters dressed in signature red shirts were also set to attend ceremonies, especially as public sector workers had the day off and could be bussed to events by Chavez's massive political machinery.

Businesses and schools were closed after they scrambled on Sunday to tell their employees and students to stay at home. Chavez's decree, and threats to fine companies failing to comply, showed the sometimes arbitrary leadership of Chavez as well as his political astuteness to understand the move would be popular with Venezuelan workers.

Chavez has repeatedly won elections in his 10 years in office and has overcome a coup, a national strike and a recall referendum. He remains popular among the OPEC nation's majority poor for spending oil wealth on clinics and schools and typically draws cheers at rallies for his speeches condemning the "evil empire" of the United States.

"We have done in 10 years what couldn't be done in one century," Chavez wrote to his supporters about the milestone.

COUNTRY POLARIZED

But the Caribbean country has also become polarized in the last decade, with many Venezuelans complaining Chavez has amassed so much power he is a dictator-in-the-making.

That sentiment has helped erode some of Chavez's attraction to voters. After an overwhelming re-election in 2006, he narrowly lost a referendum in 2007 to change the constitution and allow his re-election. In November, he also lost some influential posts in regional elections to the opposition.

Pollsters say public opinion is divided over his attempt in this month's referendum to win the right to stay in power as long as he keeps winning elections.

Whether or not Chavez wins the vote, 2009 will be challenging.

Used to lavishing oil wealth from one of the world's largest exporters on his poor supporters, government income has fallen as world crude prices have crashed in recent months.

The state oil company -- the financial engine for Chavez's social programs -- has piled up debts with contractors, raising doubts about how long Chavez will sustain his programs of food handouts and free doctor visits.

"Chavez has promised Venezuelans paradise but that paradise, which he calls socialism, depends on oil above $120," Alberto Barrera, who has written a Chavez biography, said.

World oil prices were at around $40 a barrel on Monday, more than a $100 below their peak in July.

Chavez says his revolution will survive the global economic crisis, which he blames on U.S.-prescribed capitalism.

The opposition says his tirades against perceived foreign enemies are aimed at distracting voters from problems at home such as high crime and poor trash collection.

Chavez says he does not need to persuade any opposition voters to switch sides for this month's referendum because he believes he has enough support among the poor.

Political analysts say one of Chavez's most lasting marks on Venezuela has been to make the poor feel politicians should champion them. The opposition has focused with some success in recent years on winning over voters in shantytowns, where for most of Chavez's presidency he had seemed unassailable.