Chavez set to receive decree powers in Venezuela

In 2001 he won similar temporary powers, which allowed him to issue decrees boosting state control over oil fields and increased presidential power to confiscate land deemed idle.

But the approval took months of political wrangling and became a lightning rod for many Venezuelans' anger that prompted large street protests.

Earlier this month, the opposition mustered barely a few hundred demonstrators to protest the planned powers.

Chavez revealed few details of his plans during the election campaign. He says his plan is inspired by communists such as Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and South America's 19th century anti-colonialist hero Simon Bolivar.

Chavez calls Cuban President Fidel Castro his father and declared himself a communist when he took office this month for a new six-year term, but denies he wants to turn the nation of avid consumers into another Cuba.

Wildly popular among the majority poor for spending an oil bonanza on schools and clinics in city slums and rural villages, it is unclear how much of a mandate Chavez won at the polls for his power grabs. He revealed few details of his economic plan during the election campaign.

The Caracas stock exchange has lost more than a quarter of its value since Chavez announced his nationalization bombshell this month and hard-currency dollars cost twice as much as before on the black market.

(Additional reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel and Fabian Cambero)