CARACAS, Venezuela, April 14 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dramatically regained power early Sunday after he returned to the capital in the aftermath of a failed coup against him by army commanders.
Chavez formally reassumed office in a televised ceremony at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in the capital, Caracas.
Earlier, a helicopter carrying Chavez landed near the palace after bringing him from the Caribbean island of Orchilla, where he had been detained following his ouster by the military.
Chavez, who won a landslide election victory in 1998, was removed from office early on Friday. The military reportedly blamed him for violence in which at least 13 anti-government demonstrators were killed in the capital.
The reinstatement of the fiery populist and critic of the United States -- whose term of office runs until 2006 -- was welcomed by Libya, Iran and Iraq, but in Washington, U.S. officials cautioned that they hoped he had understood the message his people sent him.
Venezuela -- the world's fourth largest oil exporter -- supplies the United States with 1.5 million barrels of oil a day and has the largest reserves outside the Middle East.
The surprise return of Chavez came after interim leader Pedro Carmona, who on Friday led the government that ousted Chavez, announced his resignation Saturday in the face of massive street protests and the loss of military support.
At least three people were killed in Caracas, and at least 18 wounded in demonstrations Saturday, doctors and humanitarian workers said Sunday.
Carmona and other members of the interim government are now in military custody.
Vice President Diosdado Cabello was sworn in as president late Saturday, but held the office only until Chavez returned to the country. Upon his return, Chavez was greeted by thousands of supporters in the streets outside the presidential palace.
After being formally reinstated, Chavez in a televised address thanked his supporters and appealed for calm.
"It is time for us to set our house in order," he said. "I call for unity in Venezuela. ... I call on the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, all the religions, I call on the business community, the union leaders and especially the media."
He said he never resigned his office while being held by the Venezuelan military.
"True, they asked me to resign, to sign a paper. I told them 'no,' I am a president prisoner," he said. "I never thought we would be able to return so quickly."
Chavez also announced the creation of a number of "national dialogue round tables."
"We want to listen to criticism if it is present in a loyal and honest spirit," the president said.
In Washington, U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice declined to criticize Chavez's ouster, instead issuing a stern warning.
"I hope Hugo Chavez takes the message that his people sent him that his own policies are not working for the Venezuelan people," she told NBC's "Meet the Press."
"We do hope that Chavez recognizes that the whole world is watching and that he takes advantage of this opportunity to right his own ship which has been moving, frankly, in the wrong direction for quite a long time," Rice said.
Chavez, a leftist former paratrooper, had aroused the ire of the Bush administration by aligning himself and his government with countries openly hostile to the United States, such as Fidel Castro's Cuba, and Iraq.
The national strike that triggered the crisis was led by workers at the state-owned oil firm PDVSA -- angry at the appointment of Chavez supporters to the company's board.
In his televised address, the president also announced that the directors of PDVSA had stepped down in order to "open a path to talks." Chavez promised that "no one will brush the oil workers aside."
Carmona, 60, lost support of the military after dissolving the National Assembly. He was forced to reverse his decision after armed forces chief Gen. Efrain Vasquez said he would only support Carmona if the Congress was restored.
He was also forced to suspend the inauguration of his new cabinet.
The Carmona government also dismissed the Supreme Court and called for new elections within a year.
It is still not clear whether Vasquez will now support President Chavez.
Chavez's return was welcomed Sunday by Libya, Iran and Iraq.
Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi phoned Chavez to congratulate him for his safe return and to express the solidarity of the Libyan people.
Chavez told Gadhafi his victory "was made possible by the Venezuelan people and the young officers who proved their capability to defeat imperialism."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamidreza Asefi welcomed "the return of (the) rule of law and (the) reinstatement of the legitimate government," Tehran's official IRNA news agency reported.
In Baghdad, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz congratulated Chavez and said his return was "proof that imperialist conspiracies will fail whether in Venezuela or any other country in the world."
Chavez, who was the first head of state to visit Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War, returned to Baghdad in August 2000 for talks with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and to invite him to a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Caracas.
Chavez is a staunch supporter of oil production cuts in order to boost prices in the world market.
