Plan Ávila is a military contingency plan by the Venezuelan Army to maintain public order in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. The plan was first implemented in 1989 by the Carlos Andrés Pérez government in response to the Caracazo riots, where hundreds were killed by military and armed police as a result. President Hugo Chávez also ordered the plan to be activated in response to the 11 April 2002 events, but high-ranking members of the Armed Forces refused to carry out the plan, fearing to prevent a massacre like the Caracazo.

History

Caracazo

Plan Ávila was first implemented in 1989 by the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez, in response to riots, in an event which became known as the Caracazo; resulting with hundreds to thousands being killed by military and armed police.[1][2]

On 27 August 2002, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that the 1989 implementation of Plan Ávila had resulted in massive human rights violations, and ordered the Venezuelan government to review its military contingency planning to conform to international human rights standards.[3] In 2009, Venezuelan attorney general Luisa Ortega Díaz ordered the extradition of Pérez due to his implementation of the plan.[4]

2002 Venezuelan coup attempt

The activation of Plan Ávila was ordered by then-President Hugo Chávez at midday on 11 April 2002, in response to the Llaguno Overpass events.[5] The action was in violation of laws in the 1999 Venezuela Constitution created by Chávez that were in place to prevent another massacre like the Caracazo.[6] High-ranking members of the Armed Forces refused to carry out the Plan.[7][8] When the General responsible was nowhere to be found, another general, Jorge García Carneiro, the head of the largest military unit in Caracas, offered to step in. However, this was thwarted by soldiers blocking a highway and diverting civilian traffic into the military base at Fuerte Tiuna, preventing its troops from leaving.[9] On contacting the base, the general was also told that a group of generals had plans to arrest the President.[5] General in Chief Lucas Rincón and National Assembly President William Lara said that Chávez's order was not to repress the population but to maintain public order[10][11] while Deputy Calixto Ortega of the fact-finding Mixed Commission surrounding the coup attempt said the plan had already been safely applied during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Venezuela.[11]

Plan Zamora

During the 2017 protests, over 2,000 security checkpoints were ordered by President Maduro on 15 April 2017, which would be established throughout Venezuela prior to the 19 April "mega march", with nearly 200,000 Venezuelan authorities said to be participating.[12] Finally on 18 April, President Maduro "green-lighted" Plan Zamora, a plan compared to the heavily criticized Plan Ávila,[13] and was described by officials as "a joint strategic plan to respond to possible adverse events or foreign intervention that endangers the country's security".[14][15] Antonio Benavides, commander of the Bolivarian National Guard, stated that the plan involved "the incorporation of the people to exercise the transition from normal social activity to the state of internal or external commotion", granting Bolivarian civilians the power to act as shock troops.[15] The plan also granted the State the power to arrest protesters under martial law and have civilians face military tribunals, which was heavily criticized by human rights groups.[16][14] Civilians accused of attacking military authorities would be charged with "rebellion" and could be summarily tried in military courts.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Nelson, Brian A. (Fall 2007). "One Crowded Hour". Virginia Quarterly Review.
  2. ↑ TalCual, Opinión (15 November 2021). "Del plan Ávila al plan Zamora, por Beltrán Vallejo". Tal Cual (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Caso del Caracazo vs. Venezuela web archive link
  4. ↑ "Extradition of Former Venezuelan President Requested". Americas Quarterly. 30 September 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  5. 1 2 Gott, Richard (2005). Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution. Verso. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-84467-533-3.
  6. ↑ Nelson, Brian A. (2009). The silence and the scorpion : the coup against Chávez and the making of modern Venezuela (online ed.). New York: Nation Books. p. 25. ISBN 978-1568584188.
  7. ↑ Larry Rohter, "Venezuela's 2 Fateful Days: Leader Is Out, and In Again" The New York Times (20 April 2002)
  8. ↑ "Venezuela en blanco y negro" (in Spanish). BBC. 11 October 2002. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  9. ↑ Jones, Bart (2008), Hugo! The Hugo Chávez Story: From Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution, London: The Bodley Head. pp. 321–2
  10. ↑ "Lucas Rincón afirmó que activación del Plan Ávila el 11-A no fue "para maltratar y reprimir a la población"" (in Spanish). RCTV. 24 April 2002. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  11. 1 2 "A cinco años del golpe de estado" (in Spanish). Diario El Tiempo. 11 April 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
  12. ↑ "Maduro dejará en las calles de Venezuela 2.026 puntos de control hasta el #19Abr". La Patilla (in Spanish). 15 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "¿Por qué el Plan Zamora recuerda al Plan Ávila ordenado en abril del 2002?". Efecto Cocuyo (in European Spanish). 19 April 2017. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 García Marco, Daniel (10 May 2017). "Qué es el Plan Zamora y por qué más de 250 detenidos en Venezuela responden ante un tribunal militar". BBC Mundo. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  15. 1 2 Iriarte, D. (19 April 2017). "Qué es el Plan Zamora, el operativo antigolpista decretado por Nicolás Maduro. Noticias de Mundo". El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "El Gobierno haría juicios militares a detenidos por protestas en Venezuela". CNN Español (in European Spanish). 9 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
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