Coup Atlas Research Database
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10109291952AttemptedMilitary coup

Venezuela, 1952 — military coup attempt

Venezuela (VEN)South America, AmericasSeptember 29, 1952

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Venezuela on 29 September 1952, during the rule of the armed forces junta in which Colonel Marcos Perez Jimenez was the dominant figure behind the civilian puppet president German Suarez Flamerich. The junta, in power since the November 1948 coup that overthrew the elected Accion Democratica government, governed by decree and faced clandestine opposition agitation as it prepared the November 1952 constituent assembly election. That vote produced a landslide for the opposition Democratic Republican Union, whereupon the junta halted the count and on 2 December 1952 released fabricated results, dissolved itself, and installed Perez Jimenez as provisional president, opening his outright dictatorship.

Any coup attempt in September 1952 came within that tightening authoritarian consolidation and did not dislodge the military from power, which held until the general uprising of January 1958.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: The military junta under Perez Jimenez survived; he became provisional president in December 1952 and ruled until 1958
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Marcos Perez Jimenez (dominant junta colonel, effective target of power struggles)
German Suarez Flamerich (junta's civilian figurehead president)
Clandestine opposition (agitating against the junta)

Sources

From the coup of November 1948 until December 1952 a three-man junta governed Venezuela by decree in the name of the armed forces, amid an atmosphere of instability, until the armed forces appointed Perez Jimenez provisional president.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. State Department, FRUS 1952 to 1954 vol. IV open source ↗
With Delgado Chalbaud murdered, the junta reorganized with Perez Jimenez pulling the strings of the puppet president German Suarez Flamerich, and when the 1952 election showed the opposition winning, the junta halted the count and on 2 December 1952 made Perez provisional president.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Marcos Perez Jimenez open source ↗
Perez Jimenez used the electoral confusion to shed the other two junta members, secured the signed support of the chief of staff, declared himself president on fabricated returns, and ordered the arrest of opposition officials, prompting a protest strike.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME, Venezuela: Surprise for the Junta open source ↗
The dictatorship was brought to an end only by the general uprising of January 1958, the coup of 23 January 1958 that forced Perez Jimenez to leave the country.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Military dictatorship in Venezuela open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a 29 September 1952 Venezuelan coup attempt was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's coding and the verified junta context in the weeks before the December 1952 seizure, with the specific September event unconfirmed, flagged. Links to the 1948 and 1958 Venezuela coups in the dataset.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
10109291952
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-101-1952-09-29

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The military junta under Perez Jimenez survived; he became provisional president in December 1952 and ruled until 1958.

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
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

Powell and Thyne

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

New York Times

“5 DIE IN VENEZUELA IN REPORTED COUP,” September 30, 1952

Los Angeles Times

“New Revolt in Venezuela Suppressed,” October 2, 1952

Boston Globe

“5 Die in Attempted Coup,” September 30, 1952

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 →

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Related Records

Venezuela — Military coup, 19461946-09-16AttemptedSouth AmericaVenezuela — Military coup, 19461946-12-11AttemptedSouth AmericaVenezuela — Military coup, 19581958-01-01AttemptedSouth America