April 11, 2002, is marked in Venezuelan history as the beginning of an attempted coup that lasted three days and failed. Former president Hugo Chávez emerged stronger from the episode, got more support for his presidential term and ended up raising the tone of his rhetoric, consolidating what became known as "Chavismo" as a socialist political-ideological movement.
According to historian Carlos Franco Gil, from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Chávez came to power in 1999 without a well-defined political-ideological line. In the first years of his term, the tension between the government and the opposition grew and culminated in the attempted coup against the government in 2002. From then on, the former president raised the tone against his opponents.
"There is an intense radicalization of what Chávez's thoughts were and the political tone on the values that will underpin the Bolivarian project. When he comes to power, we don't know what Chávez is. He's a confluence of different factors. With the 1999 Constitution, Chavismo is being defined in terms of the elements that the traditional Latin American left has as its foundations: nationalization and income distribution. This was a tense period, which ended up consolidating Chavismo. Chávez didn't declare himself a socialist until 2006. In this first stage [of his presidential term], he raised his political tone. However, at that time, I don't remember him declaring himself a socialist," said Gil.
April 11 was the culmination of a crisis in place since the beginning of Chávez’s mandate in 1999. The opposition was gaining more traction among the Venezuelan middle classes and business sectors. From November 2001 onwards, the protests took on a greater scale with interruptions in the main sector of the Venezuelan economy: oil.
PDVSA was the Venezuelan public company that generated the most revenue and was strategic for any administration in the country. Given the size of Venezuela’s oil fields, Chávez had in the state-owned company a source of funding for public projects and social programs that boosted his government. At the beginning of April 2002, the company's leaders were split with the government and began to promote strikes against Chávez.
The government's response was harsh. On Sunday morning, April 7, Chávez used his television program Alô, Presidente to announce a series of layoffs in the company's management.
"The PDVSA elite has crossed the line. They've started to cross the line. So, I'm announcing the following. I announce the dismissal of the following people: Eddy Ramirez, Palmaven's managing director until today, he is out! We have given you the responsibility of running a company as important as Palmaven, an oil subsidiary. Palmaven belongs to all Venezuelans, so Mr. Eddy Ramirez, thank you very much, you're fired," Chávez began to announce after blowing a whistle.
The message was harsh. In the aftermath, different sectors took to the streets and protested until Chávez stepped down temporarily.
According to historian Carlos Franco Gil, the involvement of business sectors was fundamental in the coup attempt, which ended up using part of the population that didn't even understand what was going on.
"Protests mobilized by the middle and upper classes of society increase. They are gradually becoming more insurgent. Added to this are factors that are not common in contemporary politics, at least in an obvious way, such as businessmen," said the historian.
Venezuelan television channels and newspapers began to pressure the government heavily. Up until the day of the protests, the public broadcasters Venevisón, Radio Caracas, Globovisión and Televen started a campaign against the government and Chávez's measures which, according to Gil, "bombarded the population" with a "siege against the government".
The day of the coup
The opposition's sit-in began at 9 a.m. on April 11, 2002, in front of a state-owned company's headquarters in the Chuao neighborhood. Broadcasted on television channels, the demonstrators went to the seat of the Venezuelan government, Miraflores Palace, led by Pedro Carmona Estanga (then president of the country's largest business organization, Fedecámaras) and Carlos Ortega (president of the Venezuelan Workers' Confederation).
On arriving at Miraflores Palace, the demonstrators were repressed by the national forces and the Caracas police, even though the latter was managed by opposition mayor Alfredo Peña. Pressure increased and the Armed Forces coerced Chávez to resign, under threats of bombing the government palace. Refusing to leave office, the president ended up arrested and forcibly removed from Miraflores by military coup plotters.
"When the demonstrations took to the streets, there were internal conspiracies. Many protesters, unaware of what was going on, went to Miraflores Palace with the promise they were going to remove Chávez from power by force, based on insurrection - no democratic way, no Constitution, but violence. These mobilizations will lead to a series of sad events," says Carlos Franco Gil.
From then on, what historians call a "coup within a coup" began. Pedro Carmona Estanga went on television and claimed he was taking over a transitional government. He announced the dissolution of the National Assembly, suspended the Supreme Court of Justice and overturned all of Chávez's measures.
The tables have turned. Chavistas take to the streets in huge numbers and demand the return of the elected president. The Caracas military arrested Carmona and ended the coup. According to Carlos Franco Gil, from that moment on, Hugo Chávez took a turn in his approach and raised the tone for the Bolivarian project. In 2006, he embraced socialism as a definition of his government.
Adjusting course
According to historian Jesus Peña, one of the turning points in Chávez's politics was his media appearances. Newspapers became actively involved in politics during that period and the former president's relationship with the media became more incisive.
"One of the main changes is Chávez's presence in private and public outlets. He began to take part in more shows and make more frequent appearances," said Peña. He says Chávez used popular discontent with television channels to reshape his media participation.
"People stopped believing the media because they presented a bad image of the president which, in the end, didn't work," said Peña.
According to historians, Chávez also came to view some sectors of the military with suspicion and had to reform the Armed Forces to ensure that other coup attempts would, at least, not involve the Army, Navy or Air Force.
The former president gained strength and popular support. Chávez used this to hold consultations such as the 2004 referendum, which discussed whether or not he should keep ruling the country. He received 69.92% of support and gradually defined his ideological base until he won the elections in 2006 and presented his government as a socialist project.
Different sectors support him, such as non-left-wingers. There are nationalists, workers and middle-class citizens who support the Bolivarian movement. In other words, Chávez is raising the political tone because he is moving towards a popular mandate that began with the approval of the constitution, and followed with a series of organic laws, referendums and elections," concludes Carlos Franco Gil.
Edited by: Rodrigo Durão Coelho
