By TIM JOHNSON
             Herald Staff Writer

             CARACAS -- President Hugo Chavez ordered fellow military coup plotters back
             into the ranks of the armed forces Thursday in a move to fill upper echelons of the
             military with his followers and turn it into a bastion of support.

             In a sweeping realignment of the military's role in Venezuela, Chavez also
             announced that troops will engage in missions ranging from road-building to fighting
             disease and running farms.

             The changes will give Venezuela's 94,000-member military a role in everyday life
             greater than at any time since democracy returned in 1958.

             While the announcements were popular with average Venezuelans, they dismayed
             some experts, who noted that Chavez, a cashiered lieutenant colonel ousted after a
             1992 coup attempt, has turned to the military for backing in part because his own
             political coalition is fraying.

             ``There is euphoria in the barracks,'' said Miguel Manrique, head of the School of
             Political Studies at the Central University of Venezuela. ``Talking to officers, you get
             the sense that they feel they are in power.''

             Chavez spoke before a military parade on the anniversary of his Feb. 4, 1992,
             uprising. The parade was planned for Tuesday, his inauguration day, but Chavez
             asked for a postponement.

             Speaking loudly, at times shouting, Chavez paid homage to the 60 or so soldiers and
             civilians who died during his 1992 uprising. He then praised newly installed air force
             commander Vladimir Filatov for announcing earlier in the day that air force officers
             involved in two military uprisings in 1992 would be brought back to service.

             Chavez said he would go one further.

             ``All the officers who can be brought back into the armed forces . . . will get their
             jobs back,'' Chavez said to loud cheers. Moreover, he said, those who lost
             promotions because of assumed links to the uprisings would gain rank retroactively.

             ``Justice must be done! Their merits and service must be recognized!'' he said.
             ``They have been anonymous heroes, without names, forgotten.''

             ``They have been there for seven years . . . bearing their cross with dignity, like
             Christ!'' Chavez said.

             He did not indicate whether any of the restored officers would be entitled to back
             pay.

             Battalions brought back

             Chavez, a 44-year-old former paratroop commander, said two paratroop battalions
             dissolved after the uprisings in 1992 would be reactivated.

             It is not clear how many cashiered officers might return to senior positions in the
             military, fortifying support for Chavez. About 600 to 700 soldiers joined the uprising
             led by Chavez or the second one on Nov. 27, 1992, led by then-Rear Adm. Hernan
             Gruber Odreman. Chavez recently appointed Gruber as governor of the federal
             district of Caracas.

             After serving jail time, most officers were freed in 1994 and many joined Chavez's
             political faction, now called the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR).

             It may prove difficult for the former officers to resume an active role in the armed
             forces after seven years as civilians.

             ``In general, the militaries of Latin America have been very reticent to reincorporate
             people who have been expelled,'' said J. Samuel Fitch, an expert on Latin armed
             forces at the University of Colorado.

             Since Tuesday, Chavez has replaced the heads of all branches of the military and
             has named a respected general, Raul Salazar, as defense minister.

             Unusual military roles

             Chavez said his administration would form a special brigade for social development,
             a corps of engineers for public works and individual battalions for health care,
             farming and other areas.

             A nation that doesn't produce its own food is a nation ``whose security and
             sovereignty are tremendously vulnerable,'' he said. ``We will activate agriculture
             battalions to harvest, to raise [farm animals] and to lift the standard of living of our
             people.''

             A health battalion, he said, would ``bring medicines, immediate medical attention --
             life! -- to the needy who clamor for a doctor or drugs.''

             On Tuesday, Chavez said soldiers would begin ``war operations against misery,
             against malnutrition, against the poor morale of the people.''
             Unhappiness in the ranks?

             Charismatic and given to military language, Chavez is extremely popular in the lower
             ranks of the army, but one diplomat wondered if assigning soldiers a broader mission
             might produce some chafing.

             ``He's got a problem. There are going to be people in the army who will start going
             on about how, `We're soldiers, not farmers,' '' the diplomat said.

             Since the Cold War's end, armed forces across Latin America have struggled to
             redefine themselves. Washington has pushed armies to focus only on defensive and
             peacekeeping efforts, with some involvement in anti-drug and environmental efforts.

             But some nations, like Brazil, have pushed armies toward a broader police-like role
             in fighting crime, or in the cases of Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru, to help in road
             construction and other nation-building strategies.

             ``The military guys talk about mission creep,'' said Eduardo Gamarra, director of the
             Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University. ``What in
             essence you end up doing is politicizing the armed forces, involving them in civilian
             areas.''

             Support already eroding

             If Chavez is relying more on the military, it may be because factionalism is corroding
             his three-party coalition, the Patriotic Pole. A splinter group has formed within the
             Movement Toward Socialism, and some within the Fatherland for All party are upset
             that Chavez sidestepped Congress on Tuesday when he signed a decree calling for a
             referendum on rewriting the nation's charter.

             ``Without a cohesive political force behind [Chavez], he is relying on the armed
             forces,'' Manrique said. ``He'll get the armed forces involved in all kinds of
             activities.''

             Manrique said Chavez is posting retired military personnel in midlevel positions in the
             bureaucracy to ensure a layer of unconditional loyalty in the state sector.
 

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