April 2002: When the Venezuelan People Rescued Their President

Published at: 18/04/2025 05:26 PM

On April 11, 2002, the Venezuelan right carried out a coup d'etat that began with a march called for the Miraflores Palace and strategically placed snipers to massacre their own supporters and blame the bloodshed on the Government.

That same day, the Puente Llaguno Massacre took place , in which Venezuelans died at the hands of the Petropolitan Police (PM), led by Iván Simonovis, Henry Vivas and Lázaro Forero.

That day and during the early morning of April 12, the constitutional president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, was kidnapped by traitor soldiers and sold to North American interests, taking him out of the palace to protect himself from the coup plotters.

After that, with the set-up that Chávez had resigned from the presidency, the presidential self-swearing of the head of FEDECÁMARAS, Pedro Carmona Estanga, took place in less than four hours, the decree that eliminated all public powers, the dismissal of the offices of the National Assembly (AN) and the takeover of the media to put them at the service of the coup plotters.

Faced with this scenario and the persecution of the leaders of Chavism, the Bolivarian people staged a popular feat to re-establish the return to power of Hugo Chávez, who forever marked the history of the Bolivarian Revolution and the country's political future, without revenge against the executioners who persecuted him for 48 hours.

“We want Chavez! Chávez didn't resign, they've kidnapped him!”

While the media kept silent about realities, an unprecedented phenomenon in the world was happening in our streets, word of mouth information, through cell phones and murals on the walls, collapsed the thesis of the undoubted power that these could have; the people knew that the day before, something very different had happened to what the television stations transmitted.

“We want Chavez! Chávez didn't resign, they've kidnapped him!” , was the collective cry of a people calling for the return of their legitimate president.

On Saturday, April 13, 2002, from the early hours of the morning, Venezuelans living in Caracas and Miranda, who had voted for President Chávez, went to the doors of the Miraflores Palace and at the same time began protests across the country demanding the return of the constitutional president, who remained kidnapped by factors coup plotters at the military base on the island of La Orchila .

In Caracas, the main highways that link the capital city with the Venezuelan East and West were blocked by demonstrators, while a crowd of citizens spontaneously descended from the popular neighborhoods, in the hills, in the direction of the Miraflores Palace.

With slogans such as: “Chávez, my friend, the People are with you” and “Chávez did not resign, they have him kidnapped”, the revolutionary people took to the streets adjacent to the presidential palace under intentional media silence from the main television channels that limited themselves to broadcasting movies and cartoon series.

Around one and a half million people across the country demanded respect for the National Constitution and the return of Chávez, who had not officially resigned from the presidency despite a statement from the coup group that had falsely reported this on national television.

Meanwhile, the emblematic 42nd Parachute Infantry Brigade of the Venezuelan Army, based in the city of Maracay in the state of Aragua, declares its adherence to the constitutional order and activates the Operation to Rescue National Dignity , to which the Presidential Honor Guard in civic-military union with the people gathered in Miraflores.

Upon noticing the movement of troops and the crowd of citizens around the seat of government, the coup plotters who remained inside the presidential palace began to flee in a hurry.

Having recovered the facilities of the Miraflores Palace , Diosdado Cabello, the then executive vice-president, was sworn in as provisional president of Venezuela as established in article 234 of the Magna Carta.

Hours later, in the early morning of April 14, a commando group composed of loyal soldiers rescued President Chávez from Orchila Island and took him to Miraflores where he was greeted by a crowd that chanted: “He came back, he came back!”

Only 48 hours were enough for the People and the Armed Forces, in perfect civic-military union, to rescue the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution and install him back in power, defeating the brief oligarchic dictatorship forged by elements of the Venezuelan right, the business sector, the Church Catholicism and American Imperialism.

Since then, civic-military union has been the determining factor in preventing time and again the conspiratorial pretensions of the right that now loom over the Government of President Nicolás Maduro in the form of a continuous coup d'etat.

April marked an unprecedented event for the country, experiencing a psychological war against thousands of opposition supporters who were used as cannon fodder to overthrow a legitimate government.

“To God what is God's, to César what belongs to Caesar and to the People what belongs to the People”, were the first words of Commander Chávez upon his arrival at the Miraflores Palace.

For the past 23 years, the Venezuelan right has persisted in trying to undermine the established bases of popular and participatory democracy, and in the face of this, the People will continue to defend the achievements made since the arrival of the Bolivarian Revolution in 1999.

AMELYREN BASABE/Mazo News Team