Venezuelans demanding a recall of President Hugo Chávez step up street pressure, blocking roads and highways with burning tires.

BY FRANCES ROBLES

CARACAS - Tense street demonstrations to protest delays in a recall drive against President Hugo Chávez spread throughout Venezuela on Monday, closing off major Caracas highways and boulevards with burning tires and trash.

National Guard and military police armored vehicles dispersed throughout the nation, although many street barricades remained.

Protesters throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at soldiers surrounded Plaza Francia, the east side Caracas square where dissident military generals camped out last year.

''In any other context, a mayor is against public disorder . . . but the government is trying to strangle four million people who want elections -- nothing more and nothing less,'' said Leopoldo López, mayor of the Caracas municipality of Chacao. ``This is democratic fraud.''

Protests spread as anticipation grew over an expected announcement by the National Elections Council, CNE. The board was scheduled to announce Sunday night whether opposition activists collected enough signatures to demand a recall referendum but twice postponed its announcement as tensions grew, promising a statement today.

Pro-government board members already indicated that many of the 3.4 million signatures presented to the CNE were set aside for appeal because volunteers helped signers fill out the petition form. The action was widely viewed as a deliberate obstacle designed to derail the referendum.

To compel a recall, the opposition needs 2.4 million signatures. Leaders claim to have collected 3.4 million, but sources say about 700,000 were rejected outright and another 700,000 were set aside for ''repair,'' because the signers allowed volunteers to fill out their names and ID number.

`IT'S ABSURD'

CNE member Jorge Rodríguez said people whose signatures were sent to repair would have five days to come forward and verify their signatures. But the opposition balked, saying the 1,000 verification centers the CNE proposed -- with just one table each -- are not enough.

''Only a dope would accept that,'' said opposition leader Henrique Salas Rmer, a former governor who is considered a likely candidate should early elections be needed. ``It's absurd.''

Opposition leaders denounced the appeal process as rigged and called for supporters to take to the streets.

''We've had it up to here,'' said Michael Rodríguez, touching his forehead with his hand, soiled from lighting tires ablaze in Chacao. ``The idea is to paralyze the country. They are trampling all over us, and we've reached the end.''

Small protests of burning garbage choked the east-side suburbs where much of the opposition lives. The major highway through Caracas was blocked as were Libertador and Francisco de Miranda avenues.

``We have to close down the whole of Caracas! said demonstrator Teófilo Rodríguez, a 53-year-old civil engineer, who carried a can of petrol in his hand and a whistle around his neck. ``Theres no alternative now but the people in the streets with sticks and stones.''

TEAR GAS IN HOSPITAL

Opposition leaders criticized the armed forces for throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at demonstrators. One hospital cleared its first-floor emergency room, after a tear-gas canister flew through the window into a waiting room filled with patients.

''This is a medical center,'' Dr. Guillermo Cabrera told reporters. ``Not barracks.''

Defense Minister Jorge Luis Carneiro expressed satisfaction, saying poor neighborhoods were free of protests.

''We can't permit disorder in the streets that causes chaos,'' said Gen. Julio Quintero, who runs the military joint command.

``We are not militarizing Caracas. We're doing our job to prevent public disorder. We're trying to keep traffic moving and free of obstacles.''

Libertador mayor Freddy Bernal, a Chávez supporter, said he plans to file a criminal complaint against several opposition leaders, including Mayor López, whom he accuses of instigating violence.

Venezuela is bitterly divided among those who consider Chávez a Fidel Castro in the making and those who view him as a savior of the poor.

He enjoys fervent support by at least 30 percent of the population, tens of thousands of whom cheered him on this weekend as he railed against President Bush.

Chávez accused Bush of plotting his overthrow and threatened to withhold oil from the United States. Using vulgar language to call Bush a ''chump,'' Chávez accused him of stealing the 2000 elections and challenged Bush to a wager: Who will be president longer?

Special correspondent Phil Gunson contributed to this report.