Unusual class alliances

After 43 years of democracy, Venezuela has been considered the most stable democracy in South America. On April 11, the popularly elected President Hugo Chavez was forcefully removed from power by groups that had been actively pursuing a path to overthrow him. The primary instigators of the immediate crisis were organisations long associated with a party system that was almost entirely discredited by the mid-1990s and overwhelmingly voted out of power in 1998. Though discredited, these groups had amassed resources that kept their power entrenched in the institutional structures, if not in the hearts and minds of the Venezuelan people. Although these organisations represent conflicting class interests, their political interests coincided. Chávez had made it very clear that his intention was to destroy what he called the old oligarchy of power in which these groups had privileged positions via elite pact-making with parties and the state.1 This system of elite pact-making began in 1958 after the overthrow of the dictator Marco Pérez Jiménez, when three parties, (AD, COPEI, and URD) signed a pact at Punto Fijo to share power. It expanded into a larger corporatist pact making between labour, business, political parties, and state structures. The umbrella labour organisation, Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela (CTV), and the organisation representing mostly large businesses, the Federación de Cámaras de Industria y Comercio (FEDECAMARAS), spearheaded this increasingly cohesive opposition. What had been an ongoing strike by these groups since 9 April, culminated in an anti-Chavez march on 11 April, where the final destination was to be the Caracas headquarters of the state-owned petroleum industry, Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). But mid-way through the march, leaders of these organisations instructed the protesters to head for the presidential palace of Miraflores where several thousand pro-Chávez demonstrators were already gathered. Their intent was clearly stated: demand that Chávez resign. Gunfire was exchanged between pro-Chávez and anti-Chávez protestors and members of the military took Chávez hostage. Pedro Carmona, president of FEDECAMARAS, was instated in power. After Carmona issued a series of proclamations, arbitrarily dismantling much of the Chavez government, including the national assembly, the new constitution, and the supreme court, thousands of chavistas poured onto the streets to demand Chávez's reinstatement. Much of the alarmed military command then rallied behind Chávez and he resumed the position of President midafternoon on 14 April

Democracy · Dictator · Economic history · Economics · Elite · Oligarchy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Cultural and political discourse analysis · International Relations in Latin America · Law · Politics and Society in Latin America