Chavez hires 200 to manage Twitter account

Big government in action

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has reportedly hired a team of 200 people just to manage his new Twitter account.

“I'm creating a team due to the avalanche of requests, and some grievances,” he told a TV audience, according to the Associated Press.

The socialist leader joined the micro-blogging site two weeks ago, after noticing his rivals increasingly used the service to trash his administration and organise street protests.

He'd previously dismissed Twitter use as "terrorism", following riots in January.

His new army of twits do not appear to have much work on their hands yet. While Chavez has already racked up 262,000 followers, he's tweeted only 171 times.

His handle “chavezcandanga” apparently translates to “Chavez Devil”.