| "They're out to get me! They're all out to get me!" |
President Hugo Chavez warned Thursday that his opponents are allegedly plotting his assassination and urged supporters to implement "revolutionary" changes in Venezuela if they succeed. During a speech at Miraflores Presidential Palace, Chavez told a group of Venezuelans participating in government-organized employment programs that "there are still plans to kill me." Chavez was short on details, and he did not say who was behind the purported assassination plot on Thursday. In the past, he has accused the United States government of being behind plots to kill him. "I put myself in God's hands and, besides, we are working hard so that they don't kill me," said Chavez, whose presidential guard boosted security measures in March in response to an alleged assassination plot. "If this ever happens, God forbid, you must not lose your cool ... take power and intensify the revolution," Chavez added. Chavez opponents dismissed Thursday's announcement as another government show aimed at diverting attention from domestic problems that have plagued Venezuela since Chavez took office in 1999. Detractors said scant evidence has been presented to support the claims.