SUMMARY
The Military faction (forces of Hugo Chávez) was an armed group in Venezuela that carried out two unsuccessful coup attempts against the Government of Venezuela in 1992. The name was assigned to the group, in accordance with UCDP coding rules relating to groups that consist of a faction of a country’s military forces.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the economic situation in Venezuela had deteriorated, its oil revenues had plummeted, inflation was high and unemployment increased. This created a situation of political and social unrest, with mass demonstrations, strikes, and student riots. Within the armed forces, disgruntlement grew as corruption was widespread and the income cleavages deepened between the high-ranking officers and the middle and junior ranking ones. This created a breeding ground for more leftist groupings within the armed forces. Together with several middle-ranking officers, Lt.-Col. Hugo Chávez founded the leftist nationalistic organization, the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement, which took inspiration from Simón Bolívar, known as the liberator of several Latin American countries from colonial Spanish rule. This movement would be at the center of both coup attempts in 1992, with soldiers and officers associated with it taking the initiatives, recruiting and inspiring additional troops to defect.
A unit of paratroopers that simultaneously attacked the presidential palace and the presidential offices spearheaded the first attempted coup, which took place on 4 February 1992, and the soldiers that defected were backed by tanks. Nevertheless, heavy fighting with forces loyal to the Government of Venezuela pushed Chávez to order the mutinous soldiers to surrender the following morning. Despite the failure of the coup attempt, its instigators managed to gain support from several politicians and among parts of the Venezuelan population. Several officers that had taken part in the coup attempt were dismissed or sent abroad, others were arrested including Chávez himself, but despite this, his popularity continued to grow.
As President Pérez did not manage to address the discontent and political tensions within Venezuela’s armed forces, a new coup attempt was carried out on 27 November 1992. This time a faction of junior officers associated with Chávez’s Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement initiated the coup and was joined by a broad range of soldiers from the armed forces. Even though this attempt initially was a military success, with the troops managing to take control over the television station broadcasting a statement, the coup was foiled later the same day.
As mentioned above, the main leader of this military faction was Lt.-Col Hugo Chávez, who led the defected soldiers in the capital Caracas. Lt.-Col. Francisco Arias Cárdenas, who led the mutinous troops in the second largest town in Venezuela, Maracaibo, was another important leader. It has been estimated that between 10 and 20 percent of the country’s armed forces – which in 1992 numbered 75 000 – supported the coup. Hugo Chávez was released from prison in 1994, when all military officers that had participated in the 1992 failed coups were granted amnesty. Chávez started a political campaign shortly thereafter and gained popular support. In the presidential elections in 1998, Chávez received over 56 percent of the votes and became the president of Venezuela, a position he held until his death in 2013.
