MAGALY OBERTO RESTS IN HER DOORWAY, 1998-12-01 (photo)

FOR RELEASE WITH BC-VENEZUELA-POVERTY - Thirty-seven-year-old Magalys Oberto, who washes neighbors clothes to feed her four children and grandson, rests briefly in her doorway in Barrio Nino Jesus, a slum high above the skyscrapers of the Venezuelan capital. Oberto who has never voted before, like millions living below the poverty line in this oil dependent country, will place her trust in the charismatic failed coup leader, Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela's presidential elections December 6. The argument that Chavez's aggressive brand of populism could impoverish a country which is the second largest oil exporter in the world receives short shrift from people who feel they can sink no lower. Photo taken November 14. KW/SV/SB