February 1992 Venezuelan coup attempt

1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt

Top to bottom, left to right: MBR-200 combatant seeking cover; an APC on the steps of Miraflores Palace; government loyalist troops deploying to combat MBR-200; and MBR-200 troops arrested following the coup attempt's failure
Date4–5 February 1992
Location
Venezuela
Result

Failed to depose the Carlos Andrés Pérez government.

  • Hugo Chávez and participants arrested
Belligerents

Venezuela Venezuelan Government

MBR-200
Cuba Cuba (alleged)

Commanders and leaders
Venezuela Carlos Andrés Pérez
Venezuela Gen. Fernando Antich
Hugo Chávez
Francisco Arias
Military support
Army loyalists Military rebels
Casualties and losses
32 killed (officially)[1] and 130 injured.[2]

The Venezuelan coup attempt of February 1992 was an attempt to seize control of the government of Venezuela by the Hugo Chávez-led Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) that took place on 4 February 1992.[3] The coup was directed against President Carlos Andrés Pérez and occurred in a period marked by economic liberalization reforms, which were attempted in order to decrease the country's level of indebtedness and had caused major protests and social unrest. Despite their failure to depose the government of Carlos Andrés, the February coup attempts brought Chávez into the national spotlight.[4] Fighting during the coup resulted in the deaths of at least 143 people and possibly as many as several hundred.[3]

  1. ^ Márquez & Sanabria 2018, p. 138
  2. ^ Sylvia and Danopolous 2003. p. 66.
  3. ^ a b Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Venezuela, War and Minor Conflict, In depth, Hugo Chávez and the 1992 coup attempt, http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?id=167&regionSelect=5-Southern_Americas# Archived 15 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ BBC, Thursday, 5 December 2002, 21:30 GMT, Profile: Hugo Chavez, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1925236.stm Archived 26 March 2022 at the Wayback Machine