Pedro Carmona


Pedro Francisco Carmona Estanga, is a former Venezuelan business leader who was briefly installed as President of Venezuela in place of Hugo Chávez, following the attempted military coup in April 2002.

Background

Carmona was born on July 6, 1941, in Barquisimeto, southwest of Caracas.
An economist educated at Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas and in Belgium, he headed a large petrochemical company, Venoco, that processes automotive oils. A major stockholder in the company, Carmona resigned as its president to run Fedecámaras.

April 2002

The early part of 2002 saw mass protests and a general strike by opponents of Hugo Chávez. On April 11, 2002, following clashes between both supporters and opponents of Chávez, Lucas Rincón, commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, announced in a nationwide broadcast that Chávez had tendered his resignation from the presidency. While Chávez was brought to a military base and held there, military leaders appointed Carmona as the transitional President of Venezuela.
In the face of crowds of Chávez supporters taking to the streets and under pressure from some quarters of the military, Chávez was restored to office.
During Carmona's 36-hour government, military officers held Chávez and attempted to force his exile. Additionally, security forces conducted raids without warrants and took some Chávez supporters into custody illegally, including National Assembly deputy Tarek William Saab, a member of the Chávez-aligned MVR, who was taken into protective custody by security forces after a large crowd had gathered around his home, threatening him and his family. He was held incommunicado for several hours.
After the coup, Carmona was placed under house arrest, but he was able to gain asylum in the Colombian embassy after an anti-Chávez protest drew away his security detail.

Later

According to some sources, Colin Powell held at least one meeting with the exiled Carmona in Bogotá in December 2002 during the Venezuelan general strike of 2002–03. The meeting was to discuss the future of Venezuela. There were strong opposition within the United States Department of State that using Carmona was not in the interest of US policy. Big opponents were the Latin American desk that oversaw Venezuela, which included Stephen Richardson, head of delegate, Frank Lapel, Economic Geologist and Alexander Salvi, Economic Analyst. This department sought that using Carmona was a mistake and that it would lead to sympathy for Hugo Chavez.