By Hugh Bronstein

CARACAS, Venezuela, June 15 (Reuters) Santiago Baron walks past a free government-run cafeteria on his way to work. Looking up at a hillside, he sees concrete reinforcements being built to stop houses from tumbling under the rain.

He thinks of the thousands in his native Colombia who lose their homes in mudslides every wet season due to poor housing conditions unaddressed by the government.

And he thanks Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the firebrand socialist accused by Washington of destabilising Latin America, for giving him and the rest of this immigrant community in eastern Caracas a better life.

Baron, 46, and his neighbours are among an estimated 3 million Colombians who in recent decades have crossed the border into oil-rich Venezuela looking for jobs and sanctuary from Colombia's 42-year-old guerrilla war.

They are getting fast-track citizenship under a programme called Mission Identity and largely supporting Chavez ahead of his December re-election bid.

''Look at that!'' says Baron, born near the historic Colombian port city of Cartagena, pointing at the newly paved street in front of his house and then at the concrete barriers that will make life safer for his hillside neighbours.

''How am I not going to support Chavez?'' VOTING BLOC Although precise registration figures were not available, Venezuelan political analyst Alfredo Anzola estimates between 1.8 million and 2 million Colombians are registered to vote here. This suggests they could have a big influence in a country where less than 10 million people voted in the 2004 referendum that consolidated Chavez' mandate.

''These immigrants are benefiting from the medical, nutrition and other programmes offered by Chavez. So, yes, they tend to vote for him,'' Anzola said. ''Voter registration increased by about 2 million ahead of the referendum and a big chunk of those new voters were people who did not have Venezuelan citizenship six months earlier.'' The opposition accuses Chavez of padding the voter registration rolls with Colombians and other immigrants who are not legal citizens, a charge the government dismisses.

First elected in 1998, after going to jail for leading a failed coup six years earlier, Chavez has tightened his grip on power.

Lawmakers loyal to him control Congress and critics say he has stacked the Supreme Court and the country's electioncouncil with his cronies.

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