Spain: Aznar government backed Venezuela coup
01 November 2004
On the 59
segundos (59 seconds) television programme on RTVE (the Spanish public broadcasting company) on 22 November 2004, Miguel Ángel Moratinos claimed that under the Aznar government "the Spanish ambassador [Manuel Viturro] received instructions to back" the coup attempt in Venezuela that began on 11 April 2002 and tried to topple the democratically elected president, Hugo Chávez. Following an outcry by the opposition
Partido Popular (PP) which called for his resignation, Moratinos appeared in the
Congreso de los Diputados (parliament) to offer his apologies, describing his declarations as "unfortunate" because it was neither the "appropriate" place nor the "right moment" to voice them. He stood by the truthfulness of the claims, and brought documentation, including correspondence between the government and the ambassador in Venezuela and official statements, to prove them.
Moratinos' documents showed that the then Spanish government adopted the language of the insurgents straight away, ordered its ambassador to meet with the coup leader, the businessman Pedro Carmona, when it was clear that a coup was taking place. The government described the illegal authorities as a "provisional government" before the EU, and failed to condemn the coup attempt until 14 April, when it had failed. Moratinos added that he was not suggesting that the Aznar government had "instigated or participated in the preparation and execution of the
coup d'etat, but rather that it had "backed" it by "not condemning" it, "endorsing and trying to offer [it] international legitimacy".
The events on 11 April 2002 saw Chávez confined in the presidential palace by the insurgents, who claimed that he had renounced power after relieving the vice-president from office. It was an argument which sought to provide a legal basis for recognising the coup leaders. In fact, there must be a pre-existing "vacuum of power" in order for an unelected government to be recognised. Carmona dissolved parliament and proclaimed himself president, claiming that there was a "vacuum of power". However, Chávez later denied that he had ever resigned from power, and even if he and the vice-president had resigned, the president and the vice-president of the National Assembly (parliament) would have been next in line to take the reins of the government, and they both opposed the coup.
Nonetheless, the Spanish ambassador was instructed to meet Carmona alongside the US ambassador in Caracas and on 12 April, and in its role as the holder of the EU Presidency, the Spanish government expressed its hope that the "transitional government" would respect democratic standards. A joint US-Spanish statement (to which Argentina, Brazil, France and Mexico refused to subscribe) was issued encouraging "the Organisation of American States (OAS) to assist Venezuela in the consolidation of the democratic institutions" without voicing any condemnation the coup. The OAS rejected the new government and condemned Carmona's coup attempt on 13 April, as did the US, while Spain only followed suit the next day, when the coup attempt was over. It also surfaced that the then Spanish prime minister José María Aznar had a telephone conversation with Carmona on 13 April.
The PP MP Gustavo de Aristegui described the allegations as "very serious", "slanderous" and as "defamation". He accused Moratino of "insulting democracy", adding that he had "not proven anything". De Aristegui's claim that the government attempted to meet a request from Cuba to allow Chávez to be taken into exile there, was met by Moratinos' reply that this amounted to "moving president Chávez and trying to take him out [of Venezuela], not to saying that he should stay as the constitutional president".
El País 2.12.04.