CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela on Tuesday entrusted a
                  21-member panel of mostly pro-government politicians with full legislative
                  powers until the election of a new parliament scheduled for late May.

                  The swearing in of the temporary legislative body coincided with President
                  Hugo Chavez's announcement of two new Cabinet appointees -- a new
                  minister of interior and justice and a new defense minister.

                  The changes in the two top Cabinet posts were part of a series of
                  announcements Chavez has promised this week to coincide with the
                  anniversary of his first year in office.

                  Creation of the "mini-Congress," as it has been dubbed in news reports, has
                  fueled opposition claims that Chavez's government was riding roughshod
                  over democratic institutions.

                  The National Legislative Commission, which is headed by Chavez's main
                  political mentor, former communist politician Luis Miquilena, has the power
                  to draft laws, review government spending requests and approve international
                  treaties.

                  "We will carry out the full role which any legislative body would do,"
                  Miquilena told reporters after the commission was sworn in at the old
                  Congress building in central Caracas.

                  Assembly's term expired in January

                  The members of the legislative commission were appointed by the
                  Constitutional Assembly, the elected body that drafted Venezuela's new
                  constitution.

                  While the constitution did not call for the commission, the group was always
                  envisioned because the assembly's six-month term expired in January,
                  several months before elections for the new parliament.

                  According to a report in El Universal newspaper Tuesday, 12 of the
                  commission's members belong to political parties tied to Chavez's
                  left-leaning, nationalist Patriotic Pole alliance. The remainder were described
                  as "independents."

                  Chavez, who took office in February 1999, inherited an opposition-controlled
                  Congress that frequently challenged his radical political reforms and leftist
                  economic policies.

                  Buoyed by massive popular support, he promoted the creation of the
                  elected Constitutional Assembly, which limited Congress' functions and
                  drafted a new constitution.

                  The new charter, approved in a national referendum in December 1999,
                  replaced the bicameral Congress with a single chamber National Assembly,
                  spelling the automatic demise of the opposition-run legislative body.

                  The "mini-Congress" is composed of 10 members of the Constitutional
                  Assembly and 11 other people selected by the assembly.

                  Cabinet changes

                  Chavez, who led a failed 1992 coup, announced changes in two Cabinet
                  positions Tuesday. He appointed former Congress President Luis Davila as
                  his new interior and justice minister.

                  Davila, a retired army colonel, replaced Ignacio Arcaya, who returns to his
                  previous post as ambassador to the United Nations, Chavez told reporters.

                  Davila's appointment added to the numbers of retired and active military
                  officers in top government posts. Chavez has appointed military men as his
                  chief of staff, infrastructure minister, central budget office director and
                  federal district governor, among many others.

                  Chavez also named army Gen. Ismael Hurtado as defense minister to
                  replace Gen. Raul Salazar.

                  Salazar is credited with calming tension within the armed forces due to the
                  resistance of some high-ranking officers to the former coup leader's 1998
                  presidential election victory.

                  Salazar was to retire from the armed forces in July 1999 but stayed on at
                  Chavez behest.

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