(1 Dec 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on float in rally for "Yes" vote
2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela:
"The President of Colombia took off his mask. The President of Colombia is nothing more than a peon of the North American empire, taking on the role which the North American empire has imposed on him."
3. Crowd, cheering
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela:
"Let the government of the United States know, if the so-called operation Tenaza (the name of an alleged plot by the CIA to organise opposition to Chavez' constitutional proposals) is put into play this Sunday, or on Monday or whenever, there will not be a drop of oil for the United States of America."
5. Cheering crowd
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela:
"The only way relations with Spain, the government of Spain, with the Spanish businesses that are here, which are numerous, I have the list, the only way that can be fixed is for the King of Spain to offer apologies for attacking the Head of State of Venezuela."
7. Wide cheering crowd
STORYLINE
President Hugo Chavez launched a blistering attack on his opponents on Friday, calling on his supporters to turn out in large numbers to vote "yes" in Sunday's referendum on constitutional reforms.
He donned the red 'Si !' (Yes !) T-shirt of the campaign and joined a parade through the centre of Caracas.
The reform package would extend presidential terms from six to seven years and dispense with the present limit on the number of terms a person can serve. It would create new forms of communal property, and expand Chavez's authority to reshape the government and economy.
It has been hotly contested within Venezuela, with critics accusing Chavez of rushing through the referendum and accusing the National Election Commission of bias.
But on Friday, the president reserved the most fiery rhetoric for his critics in neighbouring Colombia, in the US and in Spain.
He said his opposite number in Colombia (president Alvaro Uribe) "is nothing more than a peon of the North American empire," after an argument earlier this month about Chavez' role as a hostage mediator with Colombian rebels.
Washington received a tongue-lashing over an alleged plot - the Tenaza Plan - which the Venezuela Foreign Ministry claimed to have uncovered, for the CIA to foment anti-Chavez feeling.
The Venezuelan leader told a cheering crowd: "let the government of the United States know, if the so-called operation Tenaza is put into play this Sunday, or on Monday or whenever, there will not be a drop of oil for the United States of America."
And, going back to another argument with Juan Carlos, the King of Spain, he told the crowds: "The only way relations with Spain, the government of Spain, with the Spanish businesses that are here, which are numerous, I have the list, the only way that can be fixed is for the King of Spain to offer apologies for attacking the Head of State of Venezuela."
Sunday's vote is expected to be fairly close.
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