Editing Hugo Chávez (section)

====Coup, strikes and the recall referendum====
{{Main|2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt|Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003|Venezuelan recall referendum, 2004}}
[[File:Anti-chavez march.jpg|thumb|A 2004 rally against Chávez in [[Caracas]], demanding [[Recall election|his removal from the presidency]]]]

Chávez sought to make PDVSA his main source of funds for political projects and replaced oil experts with political allies to support him with this initiative.<ref name=":6" /> In early-2002, he placed a leftist professor as the president of PDVSA.<ref name=":6" /> In April 2002, Chávez appointed his allies to head the PDVSA and replaced the company's board of directors with loyalists who had "little or no experience in the oil industry", mocking the PDVSA executives on television as he fired them.<ref name=":6" /><ref name="CNNoil">{{cite news|last=Kahn|first=Jeremy|title=Pumping Trouble: A strike in Venezuela has raised temperatures in Caracas and oil prices around the world.|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/02/03/336466/|access-date=21 April 2014|newspaper=CNN|date=3 February 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232750/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/02/03/336466/ |archive-date=22 April 2014}}</ref> Anger with Chávez's decisions led to civil unrest in Venezuela, which culminated in an attempted coup.<ref name=":6" /> On 11 April 2002, [[Llaguno Overpass events|during a march headed to the presidential palace]],<ref>[[#Mar07|Marcano and Tyszka 2007]]. pp. 171–72.</ref> nineteen people were killed, and over 110 were wounded.<ref>[[#Mar07|Marcano and Tyszka 2007]]. p. 168.</ref>

Chávez believed that the best way to stay in power was to implement [[Plan Ávila]].<ref name="p121134NELSON2">{{cite book|title-link= The Silence and the Scorpion |title=The silence and the scorpion : the coup against Chávez and the making of modern Venezuela|last1=Nelson|first1=Brian A.|date=2009|publisher=Nation Books|isbn=978-1568584188|edition=online|location=New York|pages=121–134}}</ref> Military officers, including General [[Raúl Baduel]], a founder of Chávez's [[MBR-200]], then decided that they had to pull support from Chávez to deter a massacre<ref name="p121134NELSON2"/> and shortly after at 8:00&nbsp;pm, Vásquez Velasco, together with other ranking army officers, declared that Chávez had lost his support.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} Chávez agreed to be detained and was transferred by army escort to [[La Orchila]]; business leader [[Pedro Carmona]] declared himself president of an interim government.<ref>[[#Mar07|Marcano and Tyszka 2007]]. pp. 175–84.</ref> Carmona abolished the 1999 constitution and appointed a governing committee. Protests in support of Chávez along with insufficient support for Carmona's government quickly led to Carmona's resignation, and Chávez was returned to power on 14 April.<ref>[[#Mar07|Marcano and Tyszka 2007]]. pp. 181–85.</ref>

Chávez's response was to moderate his approach,{{Disputed inline|date=April 2020}} implementing a new economic team that appeared to be more centrist and reinstated the old board of directors and managers of the state oil company [[Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.]] (PDVSA), whose replacement had been one of the reasons for the coup.<ref>[[#Mar07|Marcano and Tyszka 2007]]. p. 185.</ref> At the same time, the Bolivarian government began to increase the country's military capacity, purchasing 100,000 [[AK-47]] assault rifles and several helicopters from Russia, as well as a number of [[Super Tucano]] light attack and training planes from Brazil. Troop numbers were also increased.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

Chávez faced a [[Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003|two-month management strike]] at the PDVSA.<ref name="BBCoil">{{cite news|last=Ceaser|first=Mike|title=Venezuelans hit by oil crisis|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1913893.stm|access-date=21 April 2014|newspaper=BBC|date=5 April 2002}}</ref> The Chávez government's response was to fire about 19,000 striking employees for abandoning their posts and then employing retired workers, foreign contractors, and the military to do their jobs instead.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} The total firing of tens of thousands of employees by Chávez would forever damage Venezuela's oil industry due to the tremendous loss of expertise.<ref name=":6" /> By 2005, the members of Venezuela's energy ministries stated it would take more than 15 years for PDVSA to recover from Chávez's actions.<ref name=":6" />

The 1999 constitution had introduced the concept of a recall referendum into Venezuelan politics, so the opposition called for such a referendum to take place. The resulting [[2004 Venezuelan recall referendum|2004 referendum to recall Chávez]] was unsuccessful. 70% of the eligible Venezuelan population turned out to vote, with 59% of voters deciding to keep the president in power.<ref name="Ramírez 2005. p. 79"/>