Caracazo
As Caracazo [ kaɾaˈkaso in Latin America; kaɾa'kaθo in Spain] or sacudón [ saku'ðon ] are the names of the popular uprisings that lasted several days in the Venezuelan capital Caracas and other cities that began on February 27, 1989. According to unofficial estimates, they killed up to 3,000 people. According to official figures, there were 276 fatalities.
prehistory
The deep economic crisis in Venezuela since the early 1980s resulted in the devaluation of the bolívar due to the enormous debt of over 30 billion US dollars . As a countermeasure, Carlos Andrés Pérez implemented a number of neoliberal proposals from the International Monetary Fund in his second term , such as the privatization of state-owned companies, the lifting of subsidies or the state protection of private companies.
Many voters of the social democratic Pérez ( Acción Democrática ) were against these reforms, especially since they had voted for Pérez precisely because of his course against the IMF during his first term in office. The measures caused inflation to rise , as a result of which many merchants hoarded their goods and everyday products became scarce. The measure that eventually sparked the Caracazo was the increase in public transport prices announced on February 26th.
Protests and looting
The protests began in Guarenas ( Miranda ), a town about 15 km east of Caracas, on the morning of February 27, 1989. It was triggered by the sharp rise in the price of transport to Caracas, where many of the people of Guarenas worked. The protests, which were initially peaceful, quickly spread to Caracas and other cities (such as Valencia , Maracay or Mérida ) in the country and were eventually used for looting. In the afternoon there were riots in almost all parts of Caracas, the merchants had closed their shops and public transport had ceased.
Due to the looting, the government declared a state of emergency and sent the military into the city to suppress the protests by force. There were firefights between the military and the civilian population, in the course of which, according to unofficial sources, over 1,000 and up to 3,000 civilians and a far smaller number of soldiers were killed. Official figures named 276 victims. The repression was particularly severe in the slums.
Congress suspended constitutional rights, and Caracas fell into chaos for several days with looting, food shortages and persecutions (including murders) of innocent people.
Effects
As a direct result of the uprising, the neoliberal program was changed.
The long-term consequence was political instability. In 1992 there were two coup attempts (on February 4th by the MBR200 under the leadership of Hugo Chávez and another by officers who were also members of the MBR200 on November 27th), in which the putschists invoked the Caracazo. In the same year Carlos Andrés Pérez was charged with corruption and removed from office.
Legal processing
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned the government's actions as violations of human rights (including extrajudicial killings) and the state undertook to compensate the victims. However, this was only fulfilled in 2003 by the successor government of Chavez.
In September 2009, the Venezuelan attorney general under attorney general Luisa Ortega Díaz applied to Interpol for an international arrest warrant for Carlos Andrés Pérez, who was then in exile in the US .
In September 2009, experts began to dig mass graves at the “Main South Cemetery” in Caracas . To date, 125 bodies have been found that had been buried by the security forces in February 1989 in the fog and night.
Movie
In 2005 the film El Caracazo was released about the events.
Footnotes
- ^ End of impunity , jW, October 6, 2009
- ↑ Caused by the fall in the price of oil
- ↑ a b Government information on the 17th anniversary ( memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Spanish)
- ↑ a b Analysis of the DISIP (the Venezuelan State Police) (Spanish)
- ↑ The poor people came from the barrios / ranchos ((bad) residential areas) of the cerros (hills) to the wealthy parts of the city.
- ^ End of impunity , jW of October 6, 2009
- ↑ A curfew was imposed and control of the city was given to the military, including the right to use firearms.
- ↑ Uppsala Conflict Data Program ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Conflict Encyclopedia, Venezuela, War and Minor Conflict, In depth, Hugo Chávez and the 1992 coup attempt ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ I / A Court HR (= Inter-American Court of Human Rights): Case of the Caracazo v. Venezuela. Merits. Judgment of November 11, 1999. Series C No. 58 ; Reparations and Costs. Judgment of August 29, 2002. Series C No. 95 ; 2 PDFs (English)
- ↑ Message from Radio Nacional de Venezuela ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Spanish)
- ↑ M. Daniljuk: Venezuela applies for an international arrest warrant for ex-president. In: amerika21. September 30, 2009, accessed September 30, 2009 .
- ^ End of impunity , jW of October 6, 2009
Web links
- About February 27, 1989 (Spanish)
- Article on Chavez with reference to the Caracazo
- El Caracazo in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- [1] Article at Telepolis