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Uprising defeats US-backed coup!
by Federico Fuentes
The simple slogan on a wall in Caracas explained it all: “Yankee, game over. You lost.” Within the space of 48 hours in April 2002, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was overthrown by a military coup, only to be swept back to power by an uprising of the Venezuelan people. The collapse of the coup was a massive setback for the US government, which was aware of the coup plotters’ preparations and aided their anti-democratic action. The coup was the culmination of the US government’s attempt to isolate Chavez internationally and destabilise his government domestically.
The coup followed a series of events that had unfolded in the previous week. Managers at Venezuela’s state-owned oil industry (PDVSA) launched a strike on April 4 to protest Chavez’s replacing of five members of the company’s board of directors. They claimed the new appointments were “political”. On April 9, the right-wing-controlled trade union federation, the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers, united with the main chamber of commerce (Fedecamaras) to call a 48-hour strike to demand the reinstatement of the sacked managers and the resignation of Chavez. Despite not involving the majority of workers, the strike was extended indefinitely and a march in the capital, Caracas, was called for April 11.
The anti-Chavez march was advertised — for free — every 10 minutes on all the privately owned TV stations, which are virulently anti-Chavez. In response, the government ordered the temporary suspension of these stations and condemned the march as “insurrectionist”. It stated that the opposition and the media were trying “to create panic and generate disturbances” to create a false sense of chaos.
The April 11 opposition march was estimated at between 50,000 to 100,000 — made up overwhelmingly of the opposition’s support base amongst the middle and upper classes. In a clear provocation, the organisers suddenly re-routed the march to the presidential palace, where 5000 pro-Chavez demonstrators had gathered. Gunfire erupted when the two demonstrations clashed, resulting in at least 15 deaths and many wounded. The media were quick to claim that Chavez had ordered the shootings and implied that the dead were anti-Chavez protesters. However, the media refused to release the names of the dead. According to eyewitness accounts, most of those killed were Chavez supporters shot by snipers. The private media deliberately manipulated footage the shootings to make it appear that Chavez supporters were firing on unarmed opposition demonstrators.
'Resignation'
These events were the excuse for 10 top military officials to declare their opposition to Chavez and demand his immediate resignation. On April 12, army commander General Efrain Vasquez announced that Chavez had “resigned” and that Pedro Carmona, the national chairperson of Fedecamaras, would be installed as president.
The private media immediately spread this claim, calling the military coup a “change of government”. Illustrating how closely the media bosses were involved in the plot, the head of Venevision offered a civilian aircraft to the coup-makers to fly Chavez out of the country. The media ignored the fact that Chavez’s daughter, Maria Gabriela Chavez, had released a statement by her father — smuggled out from the island where he was imprisoned by a loyal soldier — denying he had resigned. It was via the international media that the Venezuelan people first discovered the lie of Chavez’s resignation.
The coup junta dissolved the Supreme Court and the democratically elected National Assembly. Members of the National Assembly, 20 judges, 12 governors and all pro-Chavez mayors were arrested. Carmona also declared void the 1999 constitution, which had been passed overwhelming in a referendum, as well as the 49 laws Chavez passed by decree in December 2001. These included laws which increased royalty payments from oil companies and redistributed idle land to the poor. Carmona also demanded the end to all export of oil to Cuba, and talked of the need to re-establish closer ties with the US. Army head Vasquez immediately set out to dismantle the popular Bolivarian Circles, which had been established by the Chavez government to organise the poor to defend the reforms of the “Bolivarian revolution”.
Uprising
In response to the coup d’etat, Venezuela’s workers, unemployed workers and poor peasants launched a massive counteroffensive. Chavez supporters began to protest on the night of April 12, blocking the highway connecting Caracas with the airport for five hours in an attempt to prevent Chavez being forced into exile. The next day mass protests exploded across the country, with major upheavals in the sprawling slums.
Chavez supporters quickly seized control of the radio and television stations, which refused to broadcast the events unfolding in the streets. At one stage, protesters marched to the army fort where Chavez was being held. Sections of the military also remained loyal to Chavez. At the army base in Maracay around 2000 soldiers and officers rejected the military junta. General Raul Isaias Beduel refused to obey orders from Caracas.
Police moved to suppress dissent and 40 demonstrators were killed. However, repression could not quell the outrage spreading across Venezuela. Carmona was forced to take refuge at Fort Tiuna, south-west of Caracas, after 50,000 people surrounded the presidential palace. It was soon taken by troops loyal to Chavez. By 6pm on April 13, 100,000 Chavez supporters had gathered at the palace. In an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the collapse of his illegitimate regime, Carmona announced the restoration of the National Assembly.
The massive show of opposition to the coup, both in the capital and around the country, made the difference. The lower ranks of the armed forces joined the revolt. This forced the elements of the military brass that were still wavering to disown Carmona and swing behind the section of the military that had remained loyal to Chavez. Carmona was forced to resign and Chavez’s vice-president Diosdado Cabello was sworn in as acting president.
By around midnight on April 14, the news spread that Chavez was to be released and flown back to Caracas. 150,000 poor supporters of Chavez had gathered outside the presidential palace by the time Chavez returned. Associated Press acknowledged that “most Venezuelans seemed to accept Chavez’s return”.
US response
The US had been quick to support the coup. White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer immediately announced the US government’s willingness to work with the “new government” in Venezuela. US deputy state department spokesperson Philip Reeker asserted that the “undemocratic actions committed or encouraged by the Chavez administration provoked [the] crisis”.
It is now clear that the US government knew about the plans for the coup. The April 22 Newsweek magazine reported that the plotters had revealed their plan to the US embassy in Caracas two months before. Subsequent US support was both financial and military, according to former US National Security Agency officer Wayne Madsen.
The failed coup in Venezuela was frighteningly similar to the events that led up to the CIA-sponsored overthrow of Chile’s President Salvador Allende and his elected government in 1973: the outflow of around $12 billion worth of capital since the start of 2000 from Venezuela; the bosses’ destabilisation of the economy; direct US support and funding for the opposition; the virulent anti-Chavez media campaign; and the culmination of a military coup.
Latin American governments denounced the coup. The 19-member Rio Group condemned “the interruption to constitutional order” in Venezuela. The Cuban government immediately refused to recognise the coup leaders as the legitimate government of Venezuela.
Following Chavez’s return to power, the US administration on April 15 declared that it would withhold its support, claiming the president’s restoration did not amount to “a full restoration of democracy”. A senior US official, who refused to be named, was quoted by Reuters as saying “legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority of votes”.
On April 14, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said on NBC’s
Meet the Press, “I hope Chavez takes the message that his people sent him that his policies are not working for the Venezuelan people”.
The reality is that the victory of the Venezuelan people over the Washington-backed military coup has massively boosted the legitimacy of Chavez’s presidency. It now rests not just on his election victories but on a mass popular uprising.
From Green Left Weekly, April 24, 2002.
