Re-elected Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will be sworn in today for a new term ending in 2013 while promising a radical socialist revolution and nationalizations that have dragged down financial markets.
Emboldened by his landslide victory last month, the anti-US leader has brazenly courted controversy, refusing to renew the license of an opposition television channel and vowing to take over major companies, including some owned by foreign investors.
"We are moving toward a socialist republic of Venezuela," the leader of the OPEC nation said on Monday, outlining policies such as stripping the central bank of its autonomy and asking Congress to grant him special legislative powers.
Financial markets took fright at the deepening of Mr Chavez's leftist drive. The stock market lost almost a fifth of its value yesterday, debt prices tumbled to a six-week low and the currency changed hands at nearly twice the official rate.
The opposition has accused Mr Chavez, in power since 1999, of seeking to transform the fourth-biggest oil exporter to the United States into a Cuban-style centralized economy.
Mr Chavez, who won 63 per cent of the vote in December, has amplified comparisons with Cuban leader Fidel Castro by forming a single party to steer his revolution, but insists he will always tolerate opposition.
He already controls parliament and the judiciary and has said only his supporters can work in the army and state oil company. By focusing on the media and utilities, he is homing in on two sectors that could complete his state control.