10109121960AttemptedMilitary coup

Venezuela, 1960 — military coup attempt

Venezuela (VEN)South America, AmericasSeptember 12, 1960

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Venezuela on 12 September 1960, another of the challenges faced by the elected government of President Romulo Betancourt in a year that had already seen the April military plotting and the June car bomb attempt on his life ordered by Trujillo. Betancourt's Democratic Action government was squeezed between right-wing officers nostalgic for the Perez Jimenez dictatorship and a left radicalizing under the influence of the Cuban Revolution, and it weathered a steady series of conspiracies and risings. Any coup attempt in September 1960 came within that turbulence and did not unseat Betancourt, whose firm handling of both extremes allowed him to become the first Venezuelan president to complete a full elected term, handing power to his elected successor Raul Leoni in 1964.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Romulo Betancourt survived and completed his full elected term, handing power to an elected successor in 1964

RESEARCHED NAME

Key figures

Romulo Betancourt (president of Venezuela, target)

Disgruntled military officers (plotters)

Sources

Romulo Betancourt served as the elected president of Venezuela from 1959 to 1964 and faced armed opposition from both the right and the Castroite left, surviving repeated coup attempts.

SOURCE REVIEWED Military Wiki, Romulo Betancourt open source ↗

Betancourt survived an assassination attempt ordered by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo on 24 June 1960, in which a car bomb badly burned him in Caracas.

SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Attempted assassination of Romulo Betancourt open source ↗

Betancourt's government generally had the support of the labor unions and pursued a moderate reformist course that antagonized both extremes of the political spectrum.

SOURCE REVIEWED Military Wiki, Romulo Betancourt open source ↗

Betancourt took office in February 1959 after the fall of Perez Jimenez and completed his term in 1964, a milestone for Venezuelan democratic stability.

SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1958 Venezuelan coup d'etat open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a coup attempt precisely on 12 September 1960 was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's coding and the verified context of the Betancourt government's many 1960 challenges, with plotter identity for this specific date unconfirmed, flagged. Third of the three 1960 to 1961 Venezuela records in this batch.

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: 10109121960
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id: CAM-101-1960-09-12

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 completed his 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

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

“VENEZUELA FOILS ATTEMPTED COUP: Officer Who Seizes Radio Station Wins No Response to His Pleas for Revolt,” September 13, 1960

Globe and Mail

“Revolt Fails In Venezuela,” September 13, 1960

Atlanta Constitution

“Venezuela Crushes Army-Led Revolt,” September 13, 1960

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 →

Case File

Record ID: 10109121960
Country: Venezuela · VEN
Region: Americas
Subregion: South America
Date: 1960-09-12
Event type: Military coup
Status: Attempted
Outcome: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent
Actors: Military
Leader in power: Romulo Betancourt
A civilian, not a career military officer.
Regime type: Presidential
Last election: 21 months before (Dec 1958, executive vote held as scheduled)
645 days passed between that election and this event.
Electoral democracy: 0.59 on a 0–1 low-to-high index
Leader fate: Remained in office; not physically harmed
Research: Researched

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