President Hugo Chavez, terrified, has threatened on national television to unleash a bloody pogrom against his political opponents and anyone who opposes him, meaning over half of the civilian population.

These are his precise words:

“I warn, make no mistake, that the response that I would command would be radical at the hour that these sectors manage to or continue machine gunning guards, sending youths to throw rocks at garrisons, calling for rebellion openly…keep going as you are, and you will see… I come almost from the grave, almost from death (after the coup of 2002) due to weakness and I saw dead persons here in front due to the weakness of a goverbment that I was leading, that will not happen again… If they continue along this path they will force me to make radical decisions.”

For at least the fifth time since the start of 2010, Chavez also called on his political opponents to organize another presidential recall referendum.

Yesterday, President Chavez said the political opposition “…still have the idea of killing me.”

Then he said, “If they start an offensive of hard violence that should obligate us to hard action…something I do not recommend… our response would sweep them away.” If the “oligarchy’s plans to assassinate me are successful, there will be a frightful reaction against the East of Caracas. “If you get desperate, it will be a thousand times worse for you,” Chavez said.

Since the past weekend, different regime thugs including Diosdado Cabello and Jose Vicente Rangel (JVR) have made similar threats of mass slaughter against the middle class of Caracas.

Writing under the pseudonym “Marciano” in the pro-regime tabloid “Vea,” JVR says “estamos llegando al llegadero,” which translated to English means roughly, “we’re coming to a reckoning.”

The situation in Venezuela has become a “question of life and death,” he adds.

Marciano writes, “…the other face of the coin is death. This is what would happen in Venezuela if that opposition rotted by hatred should reach power. It already demonstrated this in the short-lived stage of Chavez’s ouster when the fascist pack launched itself against the chavistas do finish them off. If Chavez were to be toppled, blood would flood the streets of Venezuela’s cities. It is no small thing this chronicler is saying, but lamentably this is what would happen. Let no chavista be fooled and let no one think of peaceful transitions. Life or death.”

Diosdado Cabello, referring to recent popular protests against Chavez at the Venezuelan baseball championship games at Central University’s stadium in Caracas, asked menacingly, “¿What will happen if those who accompany the revolution go to the stadium and start a war? This is what they are provoking.”

A few words in the president’s rant today caught our attention: “…continue machine gunning guards…”

No guards have been machine gunned in the street battles which have erupted countrywide, since RCTV Internacional was shut down on 23 January, between unarmed student protesters and heavily armed National Guard and Metropolitan/National Police thugs.

So, what was Chavez referring to? Or was Chavez exaggerating and lying, as he is wont to do?

Caracas Gringo’s sources within the armed forces report that there was an aborted uprising less than two weeks ago. Reports that at least three generals are under arrest are true. In fact, the number of detained army officers is reported to be much larger than the regime has let on. The sources also say at least that one officer – an army lieutenant colonel – was killed.

Moreover, the abrupt resignation of Vice President/Defense Minister Ramon Carrizalez is believed to be linked to the alleged aborted revolt within the army. It’s not clear what, if any, role Carrizalez might have played in the alleged revolt. But the “correo popular” inside the army reports that Carrizalez believes Cabello is gunning for his head and was trying to set up Carrizalez.

Cabello, Rangel. These are the president’s most dangerous enemies. Rangel, who like the cockroach survives everything, is the link between the old Fourth Republic financial sector bottom-feeders and the Bolivarian Fifth Republic’s rats. Cabello reportedly has more influence in the army than Chavez. Both men recently may have lost hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth when Chavez intervened the Bolibourgeois banks this blog has written about since 3 August 2009 (remember Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco?).

It is odd that Cabello and Rangel – after Chavez – should be uttering the darkest threats of bloodshed, mass slaughter and war against the regime’s political opponents, and against anyone who doesn’t support Chavez, considering that the chief plotters against Chavez are, precisely, Cabello and Rangel.