Ever since he was first elected as Venezu-ela's president in 1998, Hugo Chavez has been fond of anti-American rhetoric. American officials long ignored this, preferring to watch what the Venezuelan did rather than what he said. Since Mr Chavez trounced his opponents in a recall referendum last August, not only has he turned up the volume of his "anti-imperialist" pronouncements, but some of his words are turning into deeds. As a result, some in Washington are starting to become alarmed about Mr Chavez and the wider regional implications of his leftist-nationalist "revolution". Mr Chavez, a former army officer, recently declared himself to be a Fidelista, a follower, that is, of Cuba's communist president, Fidel Castro, his closest ally. He has ordered Venezuela's armed forces to draw up a new Cuban-style strategy in which the top priority has become preparing to fight a war of resistance against a hypothetical invasion by the United States, now seen as the principal adversary. To this end, Mr Chavez has recently ordered a doubling of the army's reserve, to more than 100,000 troops under his personal command. "Popular defence units" of 50 to 500 civilians are to be set up in workplaces and on farms.
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