On the evening of his reelection on July 30, a euphoric President Hugo Chávez quoted the late Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as saying "Simón Bolívar awakes every hundred years." In his speech, which was delivered to tens of thousands of elated followers, Chávez added: "You, the Venezuelan people, have awoken as a result of this process of revolutionary change."

     The elections on July 30 put Chávez's hold over the Venezuelan people, and the poorer classes in particular, to a test. The economy was beset by a recession during Chávez's first year-and-a-half presidential period, as unemployment reached 18 percent. In spite of these difficulties, Chávez triumphed with 59 percent of the vote, 3 percentage points higher than in the previous presidential contests. In addition, his "Patriotic Pole" coalition of parties won 99 seats in the 165-person Congress.

     The "pacific revolution" that Chávez advocates is aimed at those lacking steady work known as the "marginal class," which after 2 decades of an economic downturn now constitutes 70 percent of the working population. Chávez's new constitution, which was ratified in a national referendum in December of last year, opens the social security system to the members of this marginal class.

     More recently, Chávez issued a decree prohibiting public schools from charging tuition, a common practice in recent years effecting the same marginal class. The charge is usually disguised as a "contribution," but parents invariably discover that it is a mandatory one. Chávez has encouraged people to occupy schools which violate the order and has threatened to jail their principals.

     Chávez is not only a populist but a fervid nationalist, even though he carefully eschews anti-U.S. rhetoric. He has resisted persisten