27-03-2014: Latin American Weekly Report

The Venezuelan military high command emitted an unusually long (780- word) communiqué in response to the arrest of three generals accused by President Nicolás Maduro of plotting a coup d’état, in which it congratu- lated itself on its “coherent” conduct in the face of “the situation denominated a soft coup” taking place in Venezuela since 12 February. If that were not politicised enough, the statement went on to declare that the “monolithic” Bolivarian national armed forces (FANB) is no longer the “elitist and removed-from-the-everyday” institution of yore, and that thanks to its “supreme and eternal commander”, Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), its fundamental priority now is to achieve “the wellbeing of all Venezuelans”, and to be “at the forefront of the country’s development”.