Venezuela, 1962 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
On 2 June 1962 naval officers at the Agustin Armario naval base in Puerto Cabello, allied with civilian militants of the outlawed Communist Party and Movement of the Revolutionary Left, rose against the government of President Romulo Betancourt in the revolt known as El Portenazo, a larger and bloodier sequel to the Carupano rising a month earlier. Captains Manuel Ponte Rodriguez, Pedro Medina Silva, and Victor Hugo Morales seized the base and much of the city, freed and armed political prisoners held at the Castillo Libertador, and broadcast calls for a general uprising over local radio. But the 55th National Guard detachment refused to join, leaving the highway open for loyal forces.
The government answered with air force and army units and naval destroyers that bombarded the rebel positions. The revolt was crushed by 3 June and the rebels' last stronghold at Fortin Solano fell by 6 June, leaving more than 400 dead and 700 injured. A Pulitzer winning photograph of a chaplain cradling a dying soldier came from the fighting.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
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
10106021962- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-101-1962-06-02-2
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 the Puerto Cabello revolt and completed his full elected term 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
Powell and Thyne
New York Times
Boston Globe
Christian Science Monitor
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 →