Chávez has declared 2 February will be an official holiday in Venezuela from now on and that any company not accepting this would be fined. He came to power back then.
On 4 February 1992 Chávez, together with other military, try to topple the government of corrupt Carlos Andrés Pérez. Their bloody coup failed and Chávez was detained. Several months later, Chávez's compagnons tried another coup (with more murders) and failed again.
6 years later, on 2 February, Chávez was elected president of Venezuela. Chávez has always claimed his coup was the only response possible to Carlos Andrés Pérez as this one had given orders to shoot thousands of people in the Caracazo, the riots of 1989, brutally suppressed by the military.
The thing is that:
1- Back then the president of Venezuela could rule for 5 years only and NO immediate reelection (thus, anyone had to wait at least 5 years) and Pérez was going to get out of office in 1994 anyway.
2- Chávez, as an officer with many connections, had enough information to do something about it by going public, going to the press, etc
3- Chávez did NOTHING to prosecute anyone about the 1989 shootings and Pérez did not shoot 100 or 3000 people alone, it was an action carried out by the military and the police
4- Many of those military are actually the people who supported and still support Chávez
And now Venezuelans are going to have a day off to celebrate that bloody coup.
On 4 February 1992 Chávez, together with other military, try to topple the government of corrupt Carlos Andrés Pérez. Their bloody coup failed and Chávez was detained. Several months later, Chávez's compagnons tried another coup (with more murders) and failed again.
6 years later, on 2 February, Chávez was elected president of Venezuela. Chávez has always claimed his coup was the only response possible to Carlos Andrés Pérez as this one had given orders to shoot thousands of people in the Caracazo, the riots of 1989, brutally suppressed by the military.
The thing is that:
1- Back then the president of Venezuela could rule for 5 years only and NO immediate reelection (thus, anyone had to wait at least 5 years) and Pérez was going to get out of office in 1994 anyway.
2- Chávez, as an officer with many connections, had enough information to do something about it by going public, going to the press, etc
3- Chávez did NOTHING to prosecute anyone about the 1989 shootings and Pérez did not shoot 100 or 3000 people alone, it was an action carried out by the military and the police
4- Many of those military are actually the people who supported and still support Chávez
And now Venezuelans are going to have a day off to celebrate that bloody coup.
What is next? Will we start calling streets after Chávez?
The poster below is an official governmental poster from last year. I wrote about it already in another post. This is a muscled Chávez (he is becoming actually fatter and fatter the longer he stays in that palace)
Ps. Sorry, I mixed up the coup day with the day Chávez came to power by democratic means.
Even if he is not Hitler, he came to power in a very similar pattern: first coup, then elections.