While many poor Venezuelans still back him, his ineptitude and authoritarian instincts have enraged the middle and upper classes.

Many poor Venezuelans are finding it harder to make ends meet.

It failed, but his messianic assault on the establishment captured the imagination of poor Venezuelans.

Part of the $1.9 billion will go toward offsetting the economic hardships among the poorest Venezuelans that free-market changes are expected to cause.

The I.M.F. money was intended to soften the social effects of the austerity program on the two million poorest Venezuelans.

Now poor Venezuelans look in the mirror and see a future president.

Chávez was immediately catapulted into the national spotlight, with many poor Venezuelans seeing him as a figure who had stood up against government corruption and kleptocracy.

But the new policies alienated poor and middle-class Venezuelans who felt that the rich and the politically connected evaded a fair share of sacrifice.

It also plans to send 100,000 poor Venezuelans to Cuba on all-expense-paid vacations.

Mission Zamora-provides a comprehensive land expropriation and redistribution program that mainly benefits poor Venezuelans.