Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002
Reactionary Coup defeated in Venezuela

REACTIONARY COUP DEFEATED IN VENEZUELA

David Raby


On 11 April, as Colombia Solidarity was going to press, news 
came in of a military coup against the popular and progressive 
President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. Fortunately within 48 hours
the 
coup was defeated and Chávez was back in power.

A popular and progressive President

An ex-paratrooper who had formed a popular movement for 
change and who was elected with a large majority in December 1998, 
Chávez was inaugurated in February 1999 and proceeded to hold a 
series of elections and referenda to change the Venezuelan 
Constitution and implement a radical overhaul of the country's entire 
political, economic and social system. A passionate orator, he used 
his weekly phone-in TV programme "Aló Presidente" to maintain 
dialogue with the people and to combat the overwhelmingly hostile 
Venezuelan media.

In three turbulent years Chávez succeeded in implementing 
nationalist measures to increase Venezuelan control over the oil 
industry, in reviving OPEC and increasing oil revenue, in tripling 
the education and health budgets and in organising popular 
neighbourhood committees known as "Bolivarian Circles" in poor areas. 
These and other progressive measures were feared and resented by the 
wealthy classes in Venezuela, who denounced Chávez as dictatorial 
despite the fact that he allowed total freedom of the press and that 
there was not a single political prisoner. 

Washington's hostility to Chávez

Not surprisingly, the US also expressed its "concern" about 
Chávez from the beginning. His revival of OPEC, his public
friendship 
with Cuba, his opposition to Plan Colombia and refusal to allow
overflights by US aircraft - all these things incurred Washington's 
displeasure. The US had to tread carefully because they were dealing 
with a freely elected government and one which went out of its way to 
maintain constitutional legitimacy, but there can be no doubt that 
Washington was working behind the scenes to undermine Chávez.

The coup

Opposition pressure on Chávez began to intensify in November 
2001 when his government decreed an agrarian reform to give land to 
poor peasants and a package of economic measures to reinforce State 
control of resource industries. Now that Chávez's "Bolivarian 
Revolution" was beginning to affect fundamental class interests, the 
opposition began to take to the streets. Mass anti-government 
demonstrations and strikes were organised on 10 December and again in 
January of this year, and in February several military officers made 
public declarations against Chávez.

Chávez refused to back down and announced a series of 
measures to reform the State Oil Company, PDVSA, replacing its 
management and ending the privileges of the corrupt union bosses who 
ran the oil workers' union. The opposition, led by the employers' 
organisation FEDECAMARAS, called for a general strike which began 
last week and culminated in a mass anti-government demonstration on 
Thursday 11 April.

Last Thursday's demonstration was the pretext for the coup. 
Some 200,000 people 
marched from the wealthy eastern suburbs of Caracas on the 
headquarters of PDVSA, but at the last moment they changed direction 
and headed for the presidential palace at Miraflores. A hastily-
arranged pro-Chávez demonstration challenged them and the Police
and 
National Guard intervened. Suddenly shots rang out, and a gunfight 
started which left some 20 dead and over 100 wounded. The official 
version of the upstart Junta was that chavistas did the shooting on 
orders from the President, and this was the pretext for the Generals 
to arrest Chávez and take him to military HQ at Fuerte Tiuna,
where 
they held him incommunicado and where they said he signed a document 
resigning the Presidency.

An illegitimate Junta

The Junta was headed by Pedro Carmona Estorga, president of 
the employers' organisation FEDECAMARAS, and included a Roman 
Catholic bishop as well as at least three military officers. It 
decreed the dissolution of Congress, of the judicial authorities, of 
all state and municipal authorities and of the Supreme Electoral 
Council. It was in other words totally arbitrary and illegitimate, a 
complete throwback to the days of Pinochet and the military regimes 
of the 70s and 80s.

For two days there was reason to fear the worst: Chávez was 
said to have resigned and the Junta was talking in ominous terms 
about "searching for criminals" involved in the previous 
administration. The personal safety of Chávez, his ministers and 
supporters was seriously threatened.

The coup defeated

International reaction to the coup was immediate. The 
Presidents of the "Río Group" of Latin American countries, meeting
in 
Costa Rica, expressed their concern at the interruption of 
constitutional order in Venezuela and said they would raise the issue 
in the OAS. Cuba, through its foreign minister Felipe Pérez Roque, 
condemned the coup as a reactionary plot and declared that it still 
regarded Hugo Chávez as the legitimate President of Venezuela. 
European and Asian countries expressed concern, although 
significantly the US blamed Chávez for the critical situation.

Meanwhile in Venezuela, people took to the streets across the 
country to protest against the Junta and demand the release of the 
President. Despite total censorship by the Junta, reports emerged 
that Chávez had not resigned. At least two State governors
declared 
their loyalty to the deposed President, and several military 
garrisons threatened to revolt against the golpistas. In Caracas 
chavista ministers backed by the people reoccupied the Presidential 
Palace, and progressive military commanders issued an ultimatum 
demanding that the Junta release Chávez by midnight on Saturday 13 
April or face open revolt. By 3 am on Sunday Chávez was back in 
Miraflores and soon afterwards he was sworn in as President again.
A great popular victory

Much still remains to be explained about the events of the last few 
days, but one thing is clear: reaction has been defeated and the 
Bolivarian Revolution will now move forward, confirming
Venezuela's 
position as a beacon of hope in Latin America and a challenge to the 
neoliberal "New World Order". Those in Venezuela who
organised the 
coup have a lot to answer for, and the US appears once again to have 
been caught red-handed sabotaging popular democratic processes in 
Latin America. 

Independent reports suggest that those who started the shooting in 
Thursday's demonstration were sharpshooters posted in surrounding 
buildings who sound suspiciously like provocateurs. It seems clear 
that the plan was to get rid of Chávez or force him into exile and 
discredit him and his movement, and reverse everything he had 
achieved. Circumstantial evidence points to direct CIA involvement in 
the coup, and sources in the Chávez administration indicate that
they 
already have concrete evidence of this. It is very encouraging that 
not only Cuba but most Latin American governments repudiated the 
coup, and Chávez has already been congratulated by most of them
and 
by China, Iran, Iraq and other OPEC members. 

Implications for Colombia

The impact of these events in Colombia has been immediate and
instructive. The Colombian establishment made no secret of its 
disdain for Chávez, and accused him of supporting the Colombian 
guerillas when in fact he made great efforts to facilitate the peace 
process. The Colombian media were jubilant when the coup occurred, 
and are now having to eat humble pie as the real situation becomes 
clear. 

The progressive victory in Venezuela will seriously 
complicate matters for the Colombian establishment, which will now 
have to face the fact that its repressive and genocidal policies will 
find no support from its eastern neighbour. Moreover, as the 
blatantly anti-democratic character of US intervention in Venezuela 
becomes clear, it will become more difficult to defend subservience 
to "Plan Colombia" and the Andean Initiative.

Support the Venezuelan revolution!

Until now many progressive people were confused about the 
Venezuelan process and distrustful of Chávez. It is now crystal
clear 
what is at stake in Venezuela, and surely the time has come to 
organise solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution.

Venezuela | IMF/ WB | actions 2002 | www.agp.org (archives) | www.all4all.org