Venezuela's Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Wednesday that the government's proposal for giving military training to civilians will strengthen national defense.

"There is a very sordid, wicked and manipulating campaign" against the National Armed Forces, that is aimed at "hitting its leaders and the institution," Rangel told the local press in response to the opposition's criticism of the proposal.

President Hugo Chavez said last Sunday that his government would give military training to civilians to help guard against threats to national security in the Latin American country.

The opposition groups, which claimed that they had gathered 3.4million signatures to trigger a recall referendum against the president, said Chavez's proposal was aimed at creating pro-government militias to intimidate those pushing for a presidential recall vote and weaken the armed forces.

Source: Xinhua