Pedro Carmona
Template:Short description Template:Family name hatnote Template:For multi Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Pedro Francisco Carmona Estanga (born 6 July 1941) is a former Venezuelan business leader who was briefly installed as acting president of Venezuela in place of Hugo Chávez, following the attempted military coup in April 2002.<ref name ="bbc">Venezuelan coup leader given asylum - BBC News, 27 May 2002</ref><ref>En imágenes: el "día negro" de Chávez BBC Mundo, 12 April 2002</ref>
April 2002
Template:Main The early part of 2002 saw mass protests and a general strike by opponents of Hugo Chávez. On 11 April 2002, following clashes between both supporters and opponents of Chávez, Lucas Rincón, commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, announced in a nationwide broadcast that Chávez had tendered his resignation from the presidency.<ref name="bbc20020412">Template:Cite web</ref> While Chávez was brought to a military base and held there, military leaders appointed Carmona as the transitional President of Venezuela.<ref>ww.pgs.org. URL last accessed October 29, 2006.</ref>
In the face of crowds of Chávez supporters taking to the streets and under pressure from some quarters of the military,<ref>news.bbc.co.uk: Analysis: After the would-be coup. URL last accessed October 29, 2006.</ref> Chávez was restored to office. During Carmona's 36-hour government, military officers held Chávez and attempted to force his exile. Additionally, security forces conducted raids without warrants and took some Chávez supporters into custody illegally, including National Assembly deputy Tarek William Saab, a member of the Chávez-aligned MVR, who was taken into protective custody by security forces after a large crowd had gathered around his home, threatening him and his family. He was held incommunicado for several hours.<ref>United States Department. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002; released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Dated: March 31, 2003. URL last accessed August 13, 2006.Template:PD-notice</ref>
After the coup, Carmona was placed under house arrest, but he was able to gain asylum in the Colombian embassy after an anti-Chávez protest drew away his security detail.<ref>Kozloff (2007:30)</ref> Later, he was granted asylum in Colombia, where he has worked as a tenured lecturer at the Sergio Arboleda University.
See also
References
External links
- BBC: Venezuelan coup leader given asylum
- CBS: Venezuelan Coup Leader Exits
- Latin Business Chronicle: Pedro Carmona: Actions, Not Words
- BBC Mundo: Pedro Carmona, presidente por un día Template:In lang
- Venezuela's Attorney General Office requests formal charges of civilian rebellion against Pedro Carmona Estanga