Coup Atlas Research Database
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10112021952SuccessfulAuto-coup

Venezuela, 1952 — auto-coup

Venezuela (VEN)South America, AmericasDecember 2, 1952

Event Summary

In early December 1952, Venezuela's ruling military junta annulled the results of a Constituent Assembly election it had unexpectedly lost and installed its strongest member, Colonel Marcos Perez Jimenez, as provisional president. The November 30 election, held under the dictatorship with the main opposition party banned, produced early returns showing a landslide for the opposition Democratic Republican Union. Perez Jimenez ordered the count halted, and on December 2 the junta released fabricated results giving the pro-government Independent Electoral Front a majority, then dissolved itself and handed power to the armed forces, which named Perez Jimenez provisional president.

A Constituent Assembly stripped of the boycotting opposition ratified him and produced a 1953 constitution granting sweeping powers. Perez Jimenez ruled as dictator until he was overthrown in January 1958.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Government junta and civilian provisional president German Suarez Flamerich (displaced as Perez Jimenez seized the presidency; the elected opposition was denied its victory)
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Marcos Perez Jimenez (junta strongman who seized the presidency)
German Suarez Flamerich (civilian junta president displaced)
Luis Felipe Llovera Paez (junta member)

Sources

Early results of the 30 November 1952 Constituent Assembly election showed an unexpected defeat for the junta as the Democratic Republican Union led; the junta blocked the final results and installed General Marcos Perez Jimenez as provisional president.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "1952 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election" open source ↗
When early results showed the opposition ahead, the junta halted the count, and on 2 December 1952 released final results favoring the pro-junta Independent Electoral Front; the junta then dissolved itself and turned power over to the military, which made Perez Jimenez provisional president.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, "Marcos Perez Jimenez" open source ↗
A U.S. State Department record notes that on 2 December 1952 the three-man junta submitted its resignation to the armed forces, which appointed Colonel Perez Jimenez, previously the strongest junta member, as provisional president, and that the 30 November election results indicated a rigged outcome.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952-1954, Vol. IV, Document 735 open source ↗
Perez Jimenez used the confusion to shed the other two junta members and, after securing the chief of staff's support, went on air to declare himself president, claiming corrected returns gave the government victory, and ordered the arrest of opposition officials.
SOURCE REVIEWED Time magazine, "Venezuela: Surprise for the Junta" open source ↗

Editorial Note

The Cline dataset codes this as an auto-coup on 2 December 1952 with the leader not physically harmed, matching Perez Jimenez seizing the presidency after annulling the election. Two Wikipedia articles, a primary FRUS record, and Time were read directly. This continues the story of the 1948 Venezuela coup record, as Perez Jimenez had been part of that junta.

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
10112021952

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Government junta and civilian provisional president German Suarez Flamerich (displaced as Perez Jimenez seized the presidency; the elected opposition was denied its victory).

Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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

Chicago Tribune

“Venezuela Gets a New President; Junta Resigns,” December 3, 1952

New York Times

“Junta Head Take Venezuela Power in Voting Sequel,” December 3, 1952

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dictatorship_in_Venezuela

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 — Auto-coup, 20172017-03-29SuccessfulSouth AmericaVenezuela — Auto-coup, 20252025-01-10SuccessfulSouth AmericaVenezuela — Military coup, 19481948-11-23SuccessfulSouth America