Wooed by reports of his crusades against poverty, globalisation and American imperialism, groups of visitors, nicknamed the "Sandalistas", are flocking to admire his policies at first hand.
Among the progressive pilgrims who have come to marvel are the American civil rights leader, Jesse Jackson, the actor and United Nations "goodwill ambassador", Danny Glover, and Harry Belafonte, the Jamaican-American musician known as the king of calypso. Belafonte led a delegation to Caracas, the capital, in January, touring shanty towns before appearing on state television with Mr Chavez, chanting "Viva la revolución!"
At the same time, there is a growing crowd of students, academics and unreconstructed Marxists for whom a visit to Caracas offers an experience reminiscent of the jaunts peddled by Intourist, the Soviet-era travel agency.
Rather than relaxing in luxury hotels or trekking through the Andes, the most adventurous stay with families in the slums and take trips around shiny new health clinics, perhaps rounding off the day with an evening class in 21st century socialist theory.
"We have come to see the revolution. It is an experience of a lifetime," said Bjorn Hansen, 23, a political science student who has recently arrived with his girlfriend, Sitne Faerch, 24, from the Danish capital, Copenhagen. .............***
''We want our own government,'' said Néstor Suárez, an economics professor and president of the pro-autonomy group Own Way. ``We are against big central governments.''
That central government, of course, is run by President Hugo Chávez, whose politics and economics are moving toward socialism in the mold of Cuba -- expanding social-service programs and seizing some ''idle'' lands and factories.
Suárez -- whose movement favors traditional capitalist policies -- said the group is still in its early stages but is not seeking independence from Venezuela. He likens its goal to Spain's Catalonia province and China's Hong Kong, areas with semi-autonomous economic and political systems.
But Own Way's ideas nevertheless are causing a national stir, with Chávez charging that the Bush administration, which he has repeatedly accused of trying to topple him, is backing the proposal in an attempt to grab Zulia's vast oil reserves.
The United States has called all of the accusations ridiculous.
Still, Zulia is important. With about four million people in an area the size of West Virginia, it has the second-highest population and is one of the richest of Venezuela's states. Its Lake Maracaibo is one of the country's main oil-producing areas. …………..***