Venezuela's Chavez mocks foes' Egypt comparisons

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez scoffed on Sunday at commentary by critics that his 12-year rule was at risk of a people's uprising like that which toppled Egypt's Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power.

"I laugh when some clever analysts from the Venezuelan opposition try to compare my government with that of ex-president Hosni Mubarak in Egypt," Chavez said during his regular weekly "Hello, President!" program.

"They're crazy, they're wrong, they have no sense."

Supporters of the 56-year-old former soldier, who has won all but one of about a dozen national votes in Venezuela starting with a presidential poll in 1998, say he has put power in the hands of the people after decades of rule by an elite.

But his all-dominant personality, micro-management of domestic affairs, interminable speeches and tough treatment of the opponents lead to frequent criticism of authoritarianism.

Mubarak's fall has encouraged grassroots opponents of authoritarian governments around the Arab world and beyond.

"There, yes, there was a real dictatorship, and more than half of the population living in poverty, in extreme poverty, that's the fundamental cause," Chavez said of Egypt