"Praetorian Guard" - Chavez purging military - 106 generals axed- another 500 officers sent home ***Chávez said last week that he had information that civilian opponents were ''trying to urge on the military'' to stage another coup. ''For those who may think that Chávez has a wounded wing, they are wrong,'' he warned. But his purges have only fueled the discontent within the armed forces, Ochoa and Carratú added, especially because Chávez has appointed some colonels to posts traditionally reserved for generals.
Gen. Guillermo Rangél, once regarded as a radical Chavista, sparked a standoff last week when he refused to turn over command of the 41st Armored Brigade to a colonel. Eventually, he turned it over to his immediate superior, who then turned it over to the colonel.
Chávez, who under his tailor-made 1999 constitution has the power to make all military assignments and promotions, appears to have tried to appoint loyalists to the newly vacant slots.***
Argentine victims of crime fight back: In a rich suburb, guns, dogs, abound*** ***Jose Pistore, a resident, dislikes the word ''vigilante.'' But his five handguns and three German shepherds (one is named after a gun manufacturer) suggest zero tolerance for trespassers. ''We must defend ourselves because the government no longer exists,'' said Pistore, who heads a local citizens' crime patrol group. ''We have to live with anarchy everyday.'' Tidy sidewalks and well-kept yards line Pistore's neighborhood on Calle 78 in the town of San Martin. But with the eruption of crime, even the local precinct chief, Eduardo Flores, casually said that Buenos Aires state ''is on the road to anarchy.'' Pistore stars in a local cable crime talk show and is a police scanner junkie. ''With a scanner, the police can't lie to me,'' he said.***