Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, on Sep. 2017
In February 1989 a great social upheaval took place accompanied by violence in the streets of Caracas. Hundreds of thousands of people expressed their rejection of the measures that the government of the nation.
The bottom line of the protests and popular unrest caused more than 300 deaths and 2,000 injuries. This episode has gone down in the history of Venezuela with a denomination, the Caracazo.
During the days of the Caracazo there were uncontrolled looting in food establishments, clashes with the policeman, acts of looting and street fights, great damage to street furniture and, ultimately, a chaotic situation. The center of the city of Caracas was dominated by hordes of criminals and protesters and the police did not have the capacity to control them.
The intervention of the army was necessary to pacify the situation
After several days of uncontrolled social unrest, the government decided that the Venezuelan army would intervene. Thousands of infantrymen took to the streets to support the police. Initially, this measure was not enough to pacify the situation and this caused the soldiers to start shooting at looters and assailants. The
conflict it got worse and in some neighborhoods there were dramatic episodes.El Caracazo lasted for a week and, when the chaos in the streets was finally controlled, entire neighborhoods were destroyed as if a war of extreme violence had occurred.
Causes that triggered the violence
At the beginning of 1989, Venezuela was in a very difficult economic situation. By then the country I was going through a crisisfinancial due to his high external debt. In order to obtain sufficient financing to face the debt, the government of Carlos Andrés Perez implemented drastic measures in a package economic: the price of gasoline doubled, bank interest rates rose significantly and the price of passenger fares increased urban.
As the price of gasoline increased, the family basket went up in price immediately. Although the government appealed to the nation for the Venezuelan people to be understanding, a part of the population He took to the streets to express his rejection of the set of measures adopted.
Photo: Fotolia - Ingo Menhard
Topics in Caracazo