Venezuela, 1946 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On 11 December 1946 military plotters made another failed attempt against Venezuela's Revolutionary Government Junta under Romulo Betancourt, weeks after Accion Democratica's crushing victory in the 27 October 1946 Constituent Assembly election confirmed the party's dominance. The election result, roughly 79 percent for AD, hardened the opposition of conservative, clerical, and displaced medinista military sectors who saw no electoral path against the adecos, and 1946 saw repeated conspiracies inside the officer corps, including plotting by Jesus Maria Castro Leon. The December attempt was suppressed and the junta continued its program, promulgating the new constitution in July 1947 and holding the December 1947 presidential election won by Romulo Gallegos.
The military finally moved successfully against the elected AD government in November 1948, ending the trienio.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
10112111946
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Junta president Romulo Betancourt survived the attempt unharmed and the junta remained in power.
Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Herald Tribune
New York Times
The Washington Post
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →