I probably should have explained a little bit why I wrote “coup”, but for space considerations I decided not to make the article more complex that it was.

Personally, I do believe that a coup happened –as a matter of fact I think that TWO coups happened in just a matter of days.

The problem is that, according to the Supreme Court in Venezuela, there was no coup – only a figure they called “vacuum of power”. Why? Let’s review some facts:

1)On the morning of April 11, quite a large number of people decided that they were tired that the government spokespeople continue to say that they were “special effects” and that they were going to Miraflores (think the White House) to prove that they were real. (the government line was that the concentrations of people were actually very few people, and, that the TV stations where using 3d software to make the concentrations bigger). Or, you can parse it using the official interpretation that quite a lot of people were manipulated by a few voices and decided to march to Miraflores to kill Chavez. Really, the interpretation of their motive is irrelevant in this analysis.

2)As the people were approaching Miraflores, Chavez ordered a “chain” and started telling people in the country that the manifestation had been dissolved and that everything was under control. At the same time, people were shooting each other very, very close to where Chavez was broadcasting. The commercial TV stations (all of them, not only RCTV) decided to split the screen to show what was really happening.

3)About the same time, orders where given to the high command of the National Guard and the army to mobilize troops to Caracas to contain the manifestation. Citing humanitarian concerns, many generals refused to try to contain an angry mob using military personal.

4)Some national guard units did comply with some of the orders. For example, a unit was dispatched to the central broadcasting antenna for the tv stations in Caracas, and, at gunpoint, ordered that the commercial tv stations signal must be stopped. A media blackout happened, leaving everybody wondering what the hell was going on.

5)Around midnight, the TV signals where back online and the Gen. Lucas Rincon (the highest ranking officer in the country and a close personal friend of Chavez) announced the country that Chavez had handed a resignation, and that his only request was to be allowed safe passage to Cuba. He went on saying that Chavez was not coerced in any way to present the resignation.

6)On the morning of the 12, and all through the day, not only many of the government officials were recognising the fact that their government was over, but even the Cuban ambassador were recognising Carmona’s presidency. At the same time, many, many voices in the opposition where really critical of the choice of Carmona as an interim president, but also saying that new elections where necessary immediately, otherwise the new government will be illegal. It is telling that quite a lot of the prominent figures on the opposition were absent at the confirmation of Carmona as an interim president.

7)On the 13, there were quite a lot of protest – Many because they wanted Chavez back, but also many criticizing the choice of Carmona as a president. In Caracas, the only place I can give you a personal report, the protest were a lot smaller than the protest on April 11 – Only they were quite a lot more violent.

8)The negotiations between Carmona’s group and the military leaders fell down; both had quite different agendas on what to do with the country. Also, Carmona’s people where against the idea of letting Chavez go to Cuba, as they wanted to try him for the deaths of April 11. The idea that it was “the people” who put Chavez back in power is a romantic, but mostly false, account of what happened those days.

9)The same military people that did the coup against Chavez did a re-coup and put Chavez back in power. Case in point, the general that announced that Chavez had resigned continued to work closely with Chavez, and now is the Ambassador of Venezuela in Portugal.

10)In the aftermath, the governments proceeded to block all attempts for an independent review of what happened on those days. The only people that were charged where from the opposition group, and even for them, the Supreme Court had to rule out that, if Gen. Lucas Rincon was telling the truth, there was no coup, only a resignation – And if he was lying, well, he is the one who should be charged with the coup accusation or at least be part of the same charge against these people – That’s were the doctrine of “vacuum of power” started.

Fact is that no one has ever been found guilty by the Venezuelan legal system for that coup. No one related to RCTV has even been CHARGED with any crime related to coup. So, the argument that they incited a coup is only hearsay. I heard many people make the analogy “What if ABC decided to make a coup against Bush and he decided to close ABC? Is not his right?” But that argument is flawed… The real question you must be asking should be “What if Bush started saying that ABC was helping a coup, and then, without any confirmation of that affirmation from a court of law, and without presenting any credible proof (in the legal sense), he decided to close ABC?” Would you support that? Because, frankly, that is what you are supporting when you support the closure of RCTV.

Sorry for the long post. As I tried to point out in the main article, the situation here is waaaay more complex that most people outside the country realize; Not even us who live it day after day really know what is going on and what has happened in the past - And that is one of the motives why I dislike this goverment…

Nope, there is no need to listen to the foreign Chavistas when the majority of the Venezuelan population has already spoken.

BTW I love “coup” in parenthesis. It really helps to demonstrate your credentials of one that is concerned with democracy when you trivialize a military coup that ultimately failed because the majority of the Venezuelan population was so opposed to it.

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:30:00 EST
Learn how to engineer a military overthrow of a South American government in this week’s episode! We look at American involvement in the destabilization and eventual overthrow of the Chilean government in the 70’s in light of the attempted coup in Venezuela in 2002.

http://www.uga.edu/wuog/podcasts/outthere30.mp3

I also agree with Rodrigo: it’s not a left/right problem. I even think the left/right categories are somewhat old, and they’re not very efficient to rationalize reality anymore… The left used to be linked to certain values that many current left-wingers are not for. On the other hand, Chavez may say he hates the oligarchs and the rich, but he still wears Armani and Rolex while he asks people “to defend the revolution even if they have to starve and be naked to do so.” He’s been accusing people of participating on the coup even before the coup on 2002. And he’s been accusing, for instance, anyone who demonstrates against him (and that includes me, for I have demonstrated, unarmed, and swallowed the army’s tear gas many times, but most certainly did not participate on any coup).

James, I think you might want to double check your sources… RCTV is not broadcasting in cable yet, but some segments of the news were inserted in a cable channel, they are broadcasting the news from YouTube, and they’re planning on broadcast on cable soon, if they reach an agreement with the cable companies. I completely agree with you: not renewing the license is not the same as shutting down the channel. But neither RCTV nor any private person related to the 1BC Group, have been trialed for participating or supporting the “coup.” And they are taking the blame for what other networks did too (splitting the screen, for example or the blackout of broadcasting cartoons while the coup occurred… which by the way is what the government asked Globovision to do while the students and RCTV supporters demonstrated this week). By that time all the channels were on the same track. Now, what’s the argument for “not renewing the license” only in their case? Why not the others…? If they have such “proof” why didn’t they presented it? Every time they presented a case it was different. Once they even accused RCTV of breaking an article that doesn’t exist! What about due process? Basically, as Chavez himself said, he IS the law. Not to mention that they confiscated the equipment. Even if they were right to do that, it was supposed to be held by the government institution in charge until the trial, not given away to the new channel so they could start airing in 15 minutes. Maybe parking enforcers should take a ride in your towed car while you go pay for the ticket…

And if you think FoxNews is somewhat pro-government, you should watch VTV and TEVES, which together don’t get 12 points of share… I wonder where is the majority of Chavistas in the country and what are they watching. It’s not that I watched RCTV all my life and have many beautiful memories, as some Venezuelans have said. I actually don’t like what they air, (I don’t like Venevision or VTV either). But I think they’re just cutting our civil rights. And if other people want to watch it, they should be entitled to it. And if the excuse is the launching of TVES (now on RCTV’s signal and equipment) they could have done it on a different signal… oh, I keep forgetting, they would have to pay for the equipment to broadcast nation-wide.

Yes, Chavez won the elections. But did you know that the person in charge of the Electoral Council, an allegedly autonomous branch of the government, who was supposed to guard the election process, to make sure it was clean, is now the solemn Vice-president of the Republic? And one of the most important members of the new Chavista party, too.

On the bright side, the president of the Asamblea Nacional (the new Congress) presented as evidence some recordings of phone taps (to, once again, prove the “conspiracy”), and openly told us that they broke the law. A few nights ago, when the students were arrested, a journalist asked the Mayor how many injured and arrested students they had on their jurisdiction and he answered that it didn’t matter, because there are not that many students in Caracas, let alone at the demonstration. Humanitarian, huh? It’s cute how they make fools of themselves and don’t even realize it… hmmm

Yes, educated Latin Americans, who make up a much smaller share of the population. I hardly need to comment on how many of those people view their poorer masses of their fellow citizens, or how they recommend their governments treat those individuals, since you are already familiar with such things.