Fiery Chávez Aims For a Global Role

American financial backing of the opposition has also strengthened Chávez, since he rarely misses an opportunity to portray his foes as lap dogs of the Bush administration. Foreign governments from Argentina to tiny Dominica have also benefited from Venezuelan largess.

But Chávez's meddling in Peru's presidential election earlier this year doomed the candidacy of Ollanta Humala, a leftist whom Venezuela openly supported. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican populist, saw his popularity fall ahead of July's election after his opponent, Felipe Calderón, portrayed him as the second coming of Chávez. Calderón won a close election.

Two more presidential elections in which leftists close to Chávez are running could also serve as a barometer of his appeal. In Ecuador, Rafael Correa, an economist, has a slight lead going into the Oct. 15 vote. And in Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, the fierce Cold War opponent of the United States, has also led in polls as the country prepares for a Nov. 5 election.

"If he gives the impression of openly interfering or intervening in the elections in Ecuador and Nicaragua, it will backfire," said Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomat in Latin America who tracks Chávez. "Maybe he will learn from his mistakes."

In Venezuela, Chávez's railings against Bush have played well among his most fervent backers.

But pollsters in Caracas, the capital, say that while Venezuelans support the government's social programs, they do not back many of his international initiatives. More than 60 percent of Venezuelans reject the country's antagonistic relationship with the United States, according to the Datanalisis polling firm, while nearly 80 percent do not see Cuba as a model for Venezuela.

"Despite his popularity, he has some weaknesses, and Venezuelans complain that he is too aggressive verbally, and they frankly find it unpresidential," said Mark Feierstein, a former State Department official who works for Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Washington polling and political consulting firm that has operated in Venezuela.

Chávez, first elected in 1998, is running for another term in December's election. He enjoys a sizable advantage over the main opposition challenger, Manuel Rosales, the governor of oil-rich Zulia state. But Rosales has chipped away at the president's lead by highlighting crime, corruption and social decay.

Opposition leaders predict that Chávez's speech at the United Nations will only solidify support for Rosales. "This type of discourse just makes Venezuelans more and more worried about the future of our country," Antonio Ledezma, an opposition leader, said by phone from Caracas. "The president wants to be a world leader, and he sees little in Venezuela to occupy him."

Yet Luis Vicente Leon of Datanalisis said that focusing on international affairs is a tactical move designed to keep Rosales from effectively engaging Chávez on domestic issues. "When he attacks, he attacks Bush, not Rosales," Leon said. "He ignores Rosales completely."