CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) -- Raising new fears about his commitment
                  to civilian rule, President Hugo Chavez has proposed doing away with a
                  constitutional ban on military involvement in politics.

                  "We have to leave behind the idea that the military is apolitical. That is
                  the invention of those who think only they have the right to lead the country,"
                  Chavez told a crowd of soldiers Friday during a visit to the eastern city of
                  Maturin.

                  Chavez, a former army paratrooper who led a bloody coup attempt seven
                  years ago, said the army should be given a political role when the country
                  rewrites its constitution this year.

                  While Chavez did not specify what form that political role should take, his
                  remarks created an immediate uproar in Venezuela, which has a 40-year
                  tradition of civilian rule but is under extreme economic and social pressure.

                  "We're going down a very dangerous path," former President Carlos Andres
                  Perez said in a radio interview Saturday. "Repeatedly, we see the president
                  demonstrating anti- democratic tendencies. By continuing down this road, I
                  fear that a dictatorial government could arise."

                  Perez was the target of Chavez's 1992 coup attempt, at a time of
                  widespread public dissatisfaction as Venezuela's oil-based economy began a
                  sharp retraction. While Chavez's putsch failed, it thrust him into the public
                  eye and opened the way for his political ascent. He was elected president in
                  a resounding victory in December.

                  Since then, he has stirred controversy by using the military to help build
                  public works and by appointing fellow coup participants to senior
                  government posts. Chavez argues the armed forces can play an important
                  role in developing a nation where more than half the population lives in
                  poverty.

                  Chavez's policies favoring the military have alarmed Venezuelans who fear a
                  greater army role in a region with a history of military abuses.

                  Another former president, Ramon J. Velasquez, said Saturday that he
                  shared Chavez's belief that the military can help alleviate Venezuela's
                  problems, but said "the intervention in political debate of the custodians of
                  the republic's arms ... can't help but be a worrisome factor in a country like
                  Venezuela that has a long history of military regimes."

                  Chavez has called for a national referendum April 25 to let Venezuelans vote
                  for a constituent assembly to write a new constitution, which the president
                  says is needed to root out corruption.

                               The Associated Press contributed to this report.