Venezuela, 1966 — military coup attempt
Event Summary
The dataset records an attempted military coup in Venezuela on 30 October 1966, during the elected government of President Raul Leoni of the Democratic Action party, who had succeeded Romulo Betancourt in 1964 and continued the fight against the leftist insurgency mounted by the Armed Forces of National Liberation and the Communist Party. Leoni governed in a broad coalition and pressed the counterinsurgency against Castro backed guerrillas in the countryside and cities. This period also saw residual military plotting from officers dissatisfied with the civilian government, echoing the garrison revolts that had troubled Betancourt.
Any coup attempt in October 1966 came within that context and did not unseat Leoni, whose administration weathered the guerrilla challenge and the plots. Leoni completed his full term and in 1969 handed power to Rafael Caldera of the opposition Social Christian party, an early peaceful transfer between rival parties that consolidated Venezuelan democracy.
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
10110301966- Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-101-1966-10-30
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Raul Leoni survived and completed his term, handing power to an opposition successor in 1969.
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
Chicago Tribune
Jerusalem 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 →