WILPERT: Venezuela, the 47-Hour Coup That Changed Everything

[magbana]

A really long article, so here are the opening paragraphs with a link to the rest.

The 47-Hour Coup That Changed Everything
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April 13th 2007, by Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com

The April 2002 coup attempt against President Chavez represented the perhaps most important turning point of the Chavez Presidency. First, it showed just how far the opposition was willing to go to get rid of the country’s democratically elected president. Up until that point the opposition could claim that it was merely fighting Chavez with the political tools provided by liberal democracy. Afterwards, the mask was gone and Chavez and his supporters felt that their revolution was facing greater threats than they had previously imagined. A corollary of this first consequence was thus that the coup woke up Chavez’s supporters to the need to actively defend their government.

Second, the coup showed just popular Chavez really was and how determined his supporters were to prevent his overthrow. They went onto the streets, at great personal risk (over 60 people were killed and hundreds were wounded by the police in the demonstrations that inspired the military to bring Chavez back to power), to demand their president’s return to office.

Third, the coup woke up progressives around the world to what was happening in Venezuela. It forced them to examine why a supposedly unpopular and authoritarian government would be brought back to power with the support of the county’s poor. As such, the coup shone a spotlight on what was happening in Venezuela and eventually rallied progressives around the world to support the Bolivarian (and now socialist) project.

Fourth, and perhaps most importantly for the future evolution of the Venezuelan conflict, the coup was the third nail in the political coffin of the country’s old elite. The first such nail was Chavez’s election in 1998, which brought an explicitly anti-establishment figure into Venezuela’s presidency for the first time in forty years. The second nail was the passage of the 1999 constitution and Chavez’s confirmation as President, in 2000, which democratically swept the country’s old elite almost completely out of political power, such as the governorships, the Supreme Court, and the National Assembly. With the third nail, the failure of the 2002 coup, the opposition lost a base of power in the military and a significant amount of good will in the international community. The next three nails, the failed 2002-2003 oil industry shutdown, the August 2004 recall referendum, and the December 2006 presidential election, only further solidified the old elite’s demise as a political force in Venezuela.

Remainder of Article

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2336


Each of these victories against the opposition heightened consciousness in Venezuela about the need to take the Bolivarian revolution further and thus also allowed Chavez to further radicalize his political program. The coup attempt represented a crucial moment in this process because it was the most dramatic expression of the Venezuelan conflict between a charismatic President and a mobilized poor population on the one hand and the country’s old elite and their supporters on the other.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Looking forward to reading this later today. Important event to always remember. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

2. Chávez: Failed coup in 2002 triggered Latin American revolution

CARACAS, Monday April 13, 2009
Chávez: Failed coup in 2002 triggered Latin American revolution

failed coup against the government in April 2002 tried to stop the "revolution in Venezuela and put out" similar movements emerging elsewhere in the hemisphere, only to have the opposite effect, said on Monday Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez.

"The US Empire and its allies (…) tried to stop the revolution not only in Venezuela (…) but the revolutionary forces that were felt in all Latin America. They failed and today, throughout this hemisphere a true revolution is going on (…) which started in the Bolivarian Venezuela," said Chávez during a ceremony held to commemorate the seventh anniversary of that day, AFP reported.

On April 11th, 2002, there was a power void when the president stepped down for 48 hours. On April 13th, military officers loyal to President Chávez organized a counter-coup which ended with the return of the president, who had been in the hands of insubordinate military officers.

"There is nothing similar in 100 years of history of this planet to what happened here in Venezuela on April 13th, 2002. There is nothing similar in the world. It is an unprecedented event," said Chávez.

According to Chávez, that day was the actual beginning "of the socialist and anti-imperialist revolution in Venezuela." For him, April 13th, 2002 is the synthesis of "two unfinished revolutions."

Reference was made to February 27th, 1989, when a violent repression of demonstrations due to an economic package, known as "Caracazo," resulted in an official death toll of 276.

http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/04/13/en_pol_esp_chavez:-failed-coup_13A2290335.shtml
Opposition newspaper

[Peace Patriot]

5. Chavez did NOT "step down." That was the corpo/fascist 'news' spin during the coup.

In fact, the entire event turned on that point--had Chavez resigned or not? RCTV, on behalf of the coup, promoted the LIE that Chavez had resigned. But it was not true. Even under threat of death, he refused to resign. And when members of his government were finally able to get back on the air (on a gov't run station, which had been shut down by the coupsters, but which they got back up), and were able to make clear that he had NOT resigned, but rather had been kidnapped, that was THE key to tens of thousands of citizens who surrounded Miraflores Palace and demanded, a) restoration of their Constitution, and b) the return of their elected president.

See "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (available at YouTube)--the marvelous Irish filmmakers' documentary on these events.

El Universal is telling a goddamned LIE (from the coupster's scenario) that Chavez "stepped down." They also leave out that the U.S./Bushwack-supported coupsters suspended the Constitution, the National Assembly, the courts and all civil rights.

I agree with Chavez. The PEOPLES' restoration of the rule of law, and courageous and successful demand that their president be restored to office, in Venezuela, in 2002, is the most important event in modern Latin America history, and possibly in the history of democracy in the western hemisphere, save the initial revolutions against colonial rule throughout the hemisphere (ours, early on, then the Bolivarian Revolution against Spain and Portugal). And it may turn out to be the seminal event of the 21st century, in this hemisphere, and possibly worldwide.

I think it is critically important to understand who saved the Chavez presidency. Chavez himself was helpless--kidnapped, whisked away, under threat of death. His cabinet and his government were nearly helpless. They were being hunted down by "brownshirt" thugs (with the help of RCTV). Some went into hiding. It was the tens of thousands of people who poured onto the streets and surrounded the seat of government power--Miraflores Palace--and wouldn't leave, who convinced the pro-Constitution military to oppose the coup. And together, the people of Venezuela and the loyal military prevented Chavez's death and restored order. It was also quite important that Chavez had not resigned. He, too, showed great courage in refusing to sign a resignation document. But that alone could not have turned the tide. It was the huge crowd--estimate of a million people--in the streets of Caracas, also braving death--who won the day. Chavez owes his power entirely to the people of Venezuela, in a way that no president ever has. They literally saved his life and his government. When our corpo/fascist press, and our State Dept. and our politicians, and the anti-Chavez bloggers at DU, demonize Chavez as a "dictator," they are demonizing the people of Venezuela. And they are demonizing democracy itself.

[EFerrari]

6. They also fired the board of the central bank and dissolved the board of elections.

And then they go on camera and say this new government is democratic victory for Venezuela! It's enough to curl your hair.

[EFerrari]

3. Marking for later. Thanks!

[magbana]

4. Gawd, it took me all afternoon to read this. It is packed full

of details that I have never seen collected in one place. This is one to file permanently and you can use it as a resource over time. When Wilpert editorializes in this article, I am disappointed in some of his conclusions, but hey, the guy has done a yeoman's job here and my hat is off to him.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Still haven't accomplished the reading, kicking back to the top.

:kick: :kick: :kick: