Venezuela: another failed coup?

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Venezuelan government scoffs at officers' revolt

Pascal Fletcher in Caracas
Thursday October 24, 2002
The Guardian

There were fears of a coup in Venezuela yesterday following an appeal by
dissident officers for a revolt against the leftwing President Hugo Chavez,
but the call was ridiculed by the government and won no clear support in the
barracks.

Early yesterday, a small crowd of opponents of the populist president still
accompanied the 14 rebel officers in east Caracas, where a rally had been
held late on Tuesday.

The officers had broadcast a message on Tuesday calling on civilians and the
armed forces to reject Mr Chavez's rule.

Mr Chavez survived a short-lived coup in April, and the officers' appeal -
broadcast by private television channels - sent new shockwaves through the
country.

Several thousand people had joined the dissident officers in Caracas'
Altamira square, and similar demonstrations were reported elsewhere.

Waving flags and chanting slogans, the anti-government protesters packed the
square, as surrounding streets filled with cars honking their horns.

There was no sign of support from the military ranks, however, and after the
TV broadcast the government condemned what it said were frustrated coup
plotters.

"There is absolute calm in all the garrisons around the country," the vice
president, Jose Vicente Rangel, said. He added that the rebels would face
trial in courts martial.

Mr Chavez's aides said he was working normally at his presidential palace.

The rebels insisted they were democrats and were not attempting a coup. They
accused Mr Chavez of dragging the military into politics, dividing the
country with his policies and confrontational rule, and moving towards
Cuban-style communism.




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