“Dwarfing recent opposition protests, more than 100,000 supporters of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez marched in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, yesterday in defence of the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ and to celebrate 18 years since Chavez, then a lieutenant colonel, led a failed civilian-military uprising against the corrupt government of former president Carlos Andrés Pérez on February 4, 1992.

The second term of Carlos Andrés Pérez, from 1989-93, (he served previously as president from 1974-79), had been marked by a series of social crises, including a popular revolt, known as the Caracazo uprising on February 27, 1989 against IMF-imposed neo-liberal reforms, which saw up to 3,000 people shot dead by the military and security forces, as well as and two military rebellions (February 4, 1992 and November 27, 1992). In May 1993 Andrés Pérez became the first Venezuelan president to be forced out of office by the Supreme Court for misappropriation of 250 million bolívars of public funds.”