"Never before in modern times has an elected president been overthrown by military commanders, his successor inaugurated, and then the ousted leader returned to power on the wings of a popular uprising." --The Associated Press

Less than forty-eight hours after being overthrown in a coup d'etat, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez was back in power, walking towards the presidential palace through a sea of chanting supporters, "his fist raised in jubilation," according to Reuters. The anti-Chávez coup, led by the president of the Chamber of Commerce, had earlier announced the dissolving of Congress, the suspension of the Constitution and the Supreme Court, the repeal of 47 key economic justice laws, and change of the country's official name.

One top petroleum company executive declared that "not one more barrel'"of oil would be going to Cuba. The island currently gets nearly 50% of its petroleum from Venezuela.

All these measures apparently went too far in a country insufficiently wrecked by foreign and domestic capitalist destabilization efforts. Despite the backing of top military officials and open support from Washington, the Chamber of Commerce coup faced an outpouring of Chávez supporters Saturday as it became clear that large sections of the Army's ranks were unwilling to commit massacres of coup protestors.

News reports in the US-dominated world media had parroted the US government line that the coup as a "change of government" wherein Chávez had "resigned" following the shooting of anti-Chávez protestors. Independent media, led by Cuban news services, publicized the fact that a coup had taken place, that Chávez had not resigned, and that many of the 14 people killed were Chávez supporters, not opponents.

These facts would have been drowned by the news industry but for the successful mobilization of the Venezuelan people to topple the coup. The Associated Press reports seeing "dozens" of protestors dead in hospitals following police efforts to crush the uprising.

Chávez was conciliatory in his speech following his reinstallation as the legally-elected president. ""There isn't going to be any retaliation, no witch hunt. I haven't any thirst for revenge," he said.

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Written for the Philadelphia Cuba Support Coalition mailing list. To join, visit groups.yahoo.com/group/PhilaCubaCo

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