Venezuela, 1960 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Venezuela on 20 April 1960, during the first year of the elected government of President Romulo Betancourt, whose Democratic Action administration faced pressure from both the extreme right and the emerging Castroite left. Betancourt had taken office in February 1959 after the fall of the Perez Jimenez dictatorship, and his moderate reformist course drew armed opposition from disgruntled military officers nostalgic for the old regime as well as from a radicalizing left inspired by the Cuban Revolution. His government would survive repeated coup attempts and military risings over the next several years, including the Barcelona and Carupano and Puerto Cabello revolts of 1961 to 1962.
Any coup attempt in April 1960 came within that turbulence and did not unseat Betancourt, who became the first Venezuelan president to serve a full elected term and hand power to an elected successor in 1964.
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
10104201960
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Romulo Betancourt survived and became the first Venezuelan president to complete a full elected term, handing power to an elected successor in 1964.
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 Austin Statesman
The Christian Science Monitor
The Guardian
New York Times
South China Morning 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 →