"We come every day. We come to get lunch . . .mainly for our children. It's really great, " said Lilian Ibarra, a mother of three and a grandmother of nine, as she waited for her food. "[And] we have healthcare, doctors.

Whenever we have any problem, the doctors are right there." She added, unnecessarily: "We are all Chavistas."

Venezuela votes today, with polls suggesting the incumbent, Hugo Chavez, will be re-elected to a third term as president with a 20-point lead over his centrist challenger, Manuel Rosales.

His victory will be cemented by people such as Mrs Ibarra, for if Chavez's vision for Venezuela was first forged during his years in the armed forces . . . and then further burnished as he cooled his heels in jail following a failed 1992 coup attempt . . . it is in the hard-pressed barrios of Caracas that such a vision is now being realised.

In places such as the neighbourhood of El Guarataro, scores of "missions" have been established using the country's oil wealth to help the poor. This reporter was escorted on a tour by Mariella Guzman, a 53-year-old Chavez activist who established a government soup kitchen which feeds 150 people, six days a week.

Guzman, wearing a red Chavez T-shirt showing 10 fingers (referring to the hoped-for 10 million votes in support of the president), insisted that anyone in need . . . and not just supporters of Chavez . . . were welcome. Yet she made no attempt to pretend that anyone coming to eat would not receive a portion of proselytising. "The idea is not to exclude anyone, " she added. "[But] if anyone says anything bad about Chavez, I will tell them not to come to my house, because this is a revolutionary house."

The missions have reduced poverty, increased access to free health and subsidised food, and taught 1.5 million adults to read. Mark Weisbrot, director of the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research, said: "Chavez is going to win, because he has delivered quite a lot on his promise to share the country's oil wealth with the poor . . . which are the majority of the population."

But Venezuela is deeply polarised between Chavez's overwhelmingly poor supporters and his largely middle-class opponents. His critics say he wishes to turn booming Venezuela into Cuba and seize private property. He has also been accused of increasing authoritarianism and of using state resources for his campaign. In recent weeks, state television has featured a flurry of inaugurations of new public works. Paying state workers their Christmas bonus weeks earlier than usual has also been seen as an attempt to cement support.

Many of Rosales's supporters cite the level of crime as a reason for change. Mauricio Blanco, 36, shopping in the capital, said: "It's about safety. I have children. I live in quite a safe area, but there are big problems."