CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --President Hugo Chavez celebrated the 10th anniversary
of his failed military coup on Monday while his opponents mourned an uprising they say
shattered Venezuela's standing as a bastion of democracy in Latin America.

"Today is a day of national celebration," Chavez declared. The insurrection, which
killed about 30 people, was a "painful but necessary military rebellion supported by
the vast majority of Venezuelans," he said.

The former lieutenant colonel led tens of thousands of supporters in a march
through Caracas. "Chavistas" launched fireworks and blew whistles as their leader
delivered a lengthy evening speech. The government ordered all TV and radio
stations to interrupt programming and broadcast it.

Pot-banging protests against Chavez and his broadcast speech erupted in many parts
of Caracas.

Hundreds of demonstrators, wearing black clothes in mourning, rushed right up to
the front door of Chavez's residence and noisily banged pots and pans, catching
police unprepared, Globovision television reported. The demonstration was peaceful.

Thousands more demonstrated in Plaza Altamira and on the central East-West
highway, a major traffic artery. Most of the 11,000 spectators at a Caribbean Series
baseball game at University Stadium joined the protest, chanting, "Chavez Out!
Chavez Out!"

Chavez's rally capped a four-day caravan that followed the route taken by rebel
soldiers 10 years ago.

At midnight February 3, 1992, Chavez led 5,000 troops to impose a "progressive
civic-military junta." President Carlos Andres Perez's government quashed the
uprising. In a famous TV broadcast, Chavez ordered his conspirators to surrender
because they couldn't achieve their goals -- "for now."

Chavez, who became of hero for millions tired of scandal and poverty, spent two
years in jail, campaigned relentlessly across the country, and was elected president in
1998.

He broadcast the 1992 surrender video on Monday.

Many citizens wore black to mourn the soldiers, police and civilians killed in the
uprising and reject Chavez's efforts to make February 4 a holiday in a nation
boasting 44 years of democratic rule. Prominent retired military officers celebrated a
Mass for the dead.

"He wants to have a party and we don't agree. We agree that he should leave,"
housekeeper Myriam Ripol said at a candlelight vigil for the dead.

Chavez's ratings have plunged as the oil-based economy languishes, capital flees the
country, and he spars with leftist politicians and business leaders, union activists and
Venezuela's Roman Catholic hierarchy.

Chavez, whose term ends in 2007, called for a "serious opposition" that isn't
obsessed with his "impossible" ouster.

Many newspapers condemned Monday's festivities.

"February 4, 1992, was a dark day for Venezuela," The Daily Journal said in an
editorial. "This is not a moment that calls for celebration; this was a moment of
weakness in the history of the country that should be mourned and not celebrated."

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.