Still, the attempt to destroy a stable, 34-year-old democracy sent shock waves through Latin America: like Perez, most Latin leaders have been instituting painful free-market reforms and calling on the people to be patient. Coup leader Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, 38, played on populism: during the coup, rebel troops clubbed a palace guard with their rifles, shouting, “You’re the soldiers who eat off the president’s silver platters!” Equally sobering was the Venezuelan people’s tepid opposition to the revolt. Said Silvio Blanco, 44, a street vendor: “Maybe this will scare him into paying more attention to us.”
Perez’s own style was certainly a factor in the coup attempt. CAP, as he is universally known, has been dogged throughout his career by charges of tolerating corruption. He also is accused of disdaining domestic affairs in favor of more glamorous regional diplomacy. Over the last year Venezuela’s economy grew by 9 percent and earned $15 billion from oil exports, but Perez has kept social spending in check and permitted real wages to drop. The army killed 300 people to put down food riots in Caracas in 1989, and poor people still resent the cuts in food and gasoline subsidies. Though Perez offers a new $4 billion economic-development program, he seems to deny Venezuelans’ anger, insisting the coup was an opportunistic outburst.
CAP has a point. The coup’s collapse showed Latin America’s growing ability to resist military adventurers. Every country in the hemisphere denounced the coup attempt. “This event was a convincing proof of democratic solidarity,” Perez told NEWSWEEK. Even the lack of public reaction may be reassuring. Carlos Bleiber’s tailor shop near Miraflores was almost wrecked by the fighting. “All this damage for a few hundred thugs,” said Bleiber. Within hours, though, he had installed a new storefront, symbolizing, perhaps, that while Latin armies can still break a few of democracy’s windows, they can’t quite close the shop.
PHOTO:‘Maybe this will scare him’: Loyalist soldiers carry slain comrade in Caracas
After surviving a surprise coup attempt last week, Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, 69, spoke with NEWSWEEK’S Tim Padgett in Caracas. Excerpts:
This has been a nation of many political liberties for many years, which also means unfortunately that even inside the military there emerge certain ambitious groups who think they can take power whenever there are political controversies.
This is the last roar of militarism in Venezuela … The army gave an extraordinary demonstration of its own democratic convictions. The rebel forces couldn’t over-come the resolve of the majority of the military. The best reform measure will be the severe punishment [they] face. This was a lesson also for the political parties and the opinion media, who were playing in such a cavalier manner with the country’s feelings.
If [the coup had succeeded] it might well have been fatal for democracy on the rest of the continent. But [the final outcome] will go a long way toward strengthening democracy here, and that will convince more Latin Americans that reinstituting democracy in Haiti, for example, is indispensable.
