Hugo to go?
Updated on 27 March 2006
A special report on Venezuela's extraordinary President Chavez - friend of the poor, enemy of the gringo. But is he coming off the rails?
>>Watch the report
He's the president with his own television show and a stream of semi-humorous invective hurled at America and George Bush.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez accuses the US of planning to invade his country to take control of its vast oil reserves.
And last night, he invoked the ultimate deterrent - the bow and arrow dipped in Indian poison:
"If we have to put a few arrows into any invading gringo, then you'll be done in thirty seconds"
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter, and a major supplier to America. That causes jitters in Washington, where Chavez is seen as a demagogue who could spearhead a regional shift to the left.
Chavez is undoubtedly popular at home, where he has spent billions on health and education programmes to improve the lives of the country's poor, although his critics point to an increasingly authoritarian streak.
Our Washington correspondent Jonathan Rugman reports from the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
