"All of the country is under the control of the national armed forces," Camacho, a National Guard general, said. "The [Cha-vez] government has abandoned its functions."
Chavez came to fame as a young army officer by leading an abortive coup in 1992 and won a landslide presidential election victory in 1998.
After easily winning a referendum for a new constitution, he was re-elected in a 2000 election he called to revalidate his self-proclaimed "Bolivarian Revolution," named after Venezuela's 19th-century independence hero and designed to help the country's poor majority.
His term had been due to expire in 2006.
In recent months, Chavez had faced mounting opposition from political foes, business and labor leaders, and even dissident military officers.
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