An extraordinary week for the world’s fourth largest oil- exporting country began last Tuesday with a general strike called by unions in solidarity with the state oil monopoly, PDVSA, which had objected to the way Chavez was hiring allies for top posts.

By Thursday hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans were marching against the president through the streets of Caracas. When the march drew close to the presidential palace eyewitnesses reported seeing snipers fire at the crowds, killing more than 16 people.

Within hours the military high command had gathered at the palace and demanded Chavez’s resignation - three years after he swept into office with vast popular support. The ousted president was then arrested and taken into custody at army barracks in Caracas. It was reported that he had asked for asylum in Cuba, but was refused so that he could be put on trial in Venezuela.

Pedro Carmona, head of Venezuela’s largest business association, was declared the leader of a transitional government.

But by Saturday it was clear that the coup was beginning to collapse. Carmona had angered many by immediately trying to sweep away all vestiges of Chavez’s rule by dissolving Congress and cancelling the constitution that was approved under his administration. He was soon forced to reverse his decision after armed forces chief General Efrain Vasquez said he would only support Carmona if the congress was restored. Carmona was then forced to suspend the inauguration of his new cabinet.

Meanwhile, in the streets of Caracas, thousands of demonstrators supporting Chavez - or opposed to the way he was ousted - took to the streets and took over state TV to demand his return. Police fired water cannon and tear gas.

There was also disquiet in the ranks. Some commanders stayed loyal to Chavez. The commander of an air base in the central city of Maracay rebelled. For several tense hours it appeared factions in the divided armed forces would fight each other, but this did not happen.

By Saturday night Carmona had resigned. At the end of a day of tension and confusion, Chavez’s vice-president Diosdado Cabello then announced that his boss would be assuming power again. He also said that Chavez had never resigned in the first place. At the presidential palace, Chavez administration officials - many of whom had evaded police raids over the past two days - and loyalist military officers gathered in the marble-floored courtyard and hugged each other with relief and joy.

Unshaven and with red-rimmed eyes, Ramirez said he had hidden in friends’ homes after Chavez’s arrest. Asked about the turnaround, Ramirez said: “It’s marvellous, because the Venezuelan people responded to this illegal coup attempt.” When Chavez returned he said that he was not mistreated in custody, and appealed for calm. He said that there would be no recriminations for the coup although Cabello said earlier that Carmona and his supporters would be tried for conspiracy of military rebellion. More than 100 military personnel were under arrest.

Chavez returns to lead a deeply divided country. His overwhelming popularity has dwindled from 80 per cent to 30 per cent and he has managed to alienate almost every sector of Venezuelan society. His only support remains the poor, although they have seen very little improvement in their lives since he took power.

Chavez had twice tried to seize power in a military coup a decade ago, but he was captured and imprisoned. On release he turned from paratrooper to politician and began the road that ended in his presidency. The 47-year-old modelled himself on Simon Bolivar, the 19th century independence freedom fighter and even renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He sidled up to Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein and pitched himself as the new leader of the developing world.

Iraq gave one of the first international reactions to Chavez’s return to power. “We congratulate the friendly Venezuelan people for their victory over a US imperialistic conspiracy,” Deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz told reporters.

The Bush administration, was left with some egg on its face. Unlike Latin American countries, which voiced concern that the coup had forgone democratic principles, the US showed no remorse when Chavez was ousted.

On news of his return Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s national security adviser, said: “We do hope that Chavez recognizes that the whole world is watching and that he takes advantage of this opportunity to right his own ship, which has been moving, frankly, in the wrong direction for quite a long time.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.