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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez led a rally of hundreds of thousands of supporters Sunday one week before a crucial referendum on his rule, which he said would be a contest between him and U.S. "imperialism." The extrovert left-wing populist leader joined the huge crowd in Caracas in a noisy chorus of "Noooooo!," urging Venezuelans to cast their ballots against opposition plans to try to vote him out of office in the Aug. 15 poll. "We mustn't forget that we're facing U.S. imperialism," Chavez said. A vote against his recall in the referendum would be "Christ's vote against imperialism," he added. The United States is the biggest single buyer of Venezuela's oil, but Chavez accuses President Bush of trying to topple him and has threatened to cut off oil shipments if the United States intervenes in its affairs. [more]