Hugo Chavez

President Hugo Chavez's announcement at this week's innaugaral ceremony of plans to create a network of "socialist cities" run by "people power" in Venezuela's unsettled interior has some critics concerned he is moving his country toward a Pol Pot-type system.

The anti-American leader told the Venezuelan national assembly that large tracts, each 38.6 square miles in size, would be developed as new egalitarian communities run without mayors or municipal governments.

"I invoke and summon the constituent power, the people's power, the real fuel, so that the engines I am talking about may lead us to a better future," he said at the swearing-in ceremony where he declared "the new era on the road to socialism."

"Those of you who want to know what type of socialism I have planned for Venezuela should read Marx and Lenin," he said.

(Story continues below)

Chavez's political rivals denounced the plan, saying it was a political effort to weaken the power of Venezuela's state governments, which have been the main source of countervailing power against the central government. The new cities would be outside the jurisdiction of state governors.

But other critics saw the Chavez plan as more ominous than political maneuvering to increase his own power.

"Chavez's plan is to introduce a system similar to Pol Pot," Carlos Raul Hernandez, a political scientist, told the London Sunday Times, referring to the Cambodian leader of the communist Khmer Rouge. "When Chavez talks about people power, he means doing away with elected institutions and replacing them with groups of fanatics."

The Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975 when the U.S. withdrew from Southeast Asia and instituted a policy of emptying cities and settling the population in the countryside. As many as 2 million people – a third of the population – were killed by the regime.

Hernandez's concerns over rule by "groups of fanatics" is not far-fetched.

This week, thousands of supporters of Evo Morales, the leftist president of neighboring Bolivia, occupied a provincial capital armed with sticks and stones demanding the local governor resign.

Some, however, see Chavez's plan as reminiscent of promises by 20th century communist regimes to create a socialist paradise by socialist means and doomed to the same fate.

"Chavez's self-confidence has outgrown his momentary good fortune (from high oil prices)," said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue policy group. "These latest moves may accelerate the implosion of a political system whose vulnerabilities are increasingly exposed."

Special offers:

'From the Gulag to the Killing Fields'

Unvanquished: Cuba's Resistance to Fidel Castro

Previous stories:

Nicaragua threatened with cutoff of dollars

U.S. voting-machine shocker: Does Hugo Chavez own 'em?

'Pro-terrorist' near win of Nicaragua presidency

Venezuelan IDs help terrorists enter U.S.

Chavez outrage fuels 'boycott Citgo' effort

'It smells of sulfur still today'

Osama's exploits south of the border

Bush critics defend him against 'thug' Chavez

U.S. taxpayers subsidizing Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

Ex-mistress accuses Hugo Chavez of 'imposing a fascist dictatorship'

Boycott of Citgo launched

Belafonte reasserts Bush 'worst terrorist'

Harry Belafonte treasonous?

Robertson: Time to assassinate Chavez

Islam on march south of border

FBI chief warns of aliens from al-Qaida-tied nations

Al-Qaida runs own travel agency

Financial squeeze pushed al-Qaida south of the border

Al-Qaida south of the border?

Terrorist base south of the border

Terrorists active in U.S. 'backyard'

A Mexico cover-up of U.S. terrorist threats?

Defector: Chavez gave $1 million to al-Qaida