CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- After a week of anti-government marches,
                 President Hugo Chavez on Saturday rallied the communist party's
                 support for his "revolution" and invited it to join his new political
                 movement.

                 "We count on you comrades," Chavez told communist supporters wearing his
                 trademark military beret decorated with the former Soviet Union's old hammer
                 and sickle symbol. "The goal is clear: smash the conspiracy and promote the
                 revolution."

                 Chavez maintained a low profile this week as the opposition led marches to
                 protest rising crime and after a state bank came under investigation for
                 irregularities prosecutors say may amount to corruption.

                 The former paratrooper invited the Communist Party of Venezuela to form part
                 of a new political movement he is creating to reinvigorate his so-called
                 "democratic revolution," which has lost some fervor after six elections that
                 created a new constitution and ousted a political class widely accused of
                 squandering Venezuela's oil wealth.

                 He has provided little detail about the project, except to say it will organize
                 "patriotic circles" to "defend the revolution."

                 On Saturday, opposition politicians held the second march in a week to protest a
                 crime wave that claims dozens of lives each week. The protesters demanded the
                 resignation of Interior Minister Luis Miquilena, who oversees the national
                 security forces.

                   Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.