CARACAS, Venezuela, 24 August 2003 — Tens of thousands of President Hugo Chavez’s supporters gathered in the capital yesterday to help the leftist leader counter a renewed opposition push for a referendum on ousting him.

The rally by “Chavistas,” as the president’s backers are known, was to show Chavez’s foes that he still commands support among the nation’s poor majority.

“We are poor and we back the president,” said Yaritza Alfaro, a 38-year-old housewife who was convinced the opposition push for an early vote on Chavez’s rule would not succeed. “We won’t permit a referendum.”

The march formed part of a weeklong celebration touting government social programs that have convinced many Chavez is their only hope.

Opponents marched by the hundreds of thousands this week and delivered more than 2 million signatures demanding the vote.

Undaunted, Chavez is plowing ahead with his “Bolivarian Revolution,” an amalgam of socialism and free market that seeks to benefit the country’s poor majority.

Under Chavez, Venezuela has lurched from crisis to crisis and could soon see more upheaval as the opposition presses for a recall. Critics label him a power-hungry populist whose social agenda comes second.

Yet Chavez has survived a 2002 coup and a two-month general strike this year. His standing among voters — about 30 percent by most polls — is enhanced by programs directed at the poor.

More than 900,000 illiterate adults are getting free reading and writing classes using methods developed in Cuba. Cuban doctors work for free in Caracas slums.

More than 300,000 people have received government loans to start small businesses. A land reform program has given more than 13,000 citizens land titles. Indigenous people have gained unprecedented constitutional rights, including the right to own their land.

At an encampment on a Caracas boulevard where soldiers sold food at cut-rate prices, Jesus del Carmen Vivas said it was something more personal than a cheap bag of food that sold her on Chavez.

At a rally two years ago, the single mother of five grabbed the president’s arm and pleaded for justice for her 9-year-old daughter, who had been raped.

Days later, the government sent lawyers to help her pursue the criminal. The man is still at large. But the gesture gave Vivas unshakable faith in the president.