50 Die as Rebels Try to Topple Venezuela Chief

CARACAS, Venezuela —  Rebels tried Friday to overthrow President Carlos Andres Perez for the second time this year, claiming to act on behalf of the growing legions of poor in this oil-rich nation racked by corruption.

At least 50 people were killed in Caracas and Maracay, site of the country’s main air base, before the revolt was put down and some top military officers were arrested, a government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, prisoners apparently trying to take advantage of the chaos staged an uprising that killed 15 inmates and one guard, officials said. At least 40 prisoners managed to escape from the compound on the west side of the capital.

In Caracas, rebels flying warplanes believed commandeered from the Maracay base opened the coup attempt by attacking the presidential palace and a military facility that contains the air force command. Battles were also waged at a government television station.

Twelve hours after the insurrection began, Interior Minister Luis Pinerua Ordaz announced the surrender of the rebels. Later, sources said authorities arrested three alleged coup leaders from the top ranks of the military: Adm. German Gruber Odreman and Vice Adm. Louis Enrique Contreras in Caracas, and Brig. Gen. Francisco Visconti in Maracay, about 50 miles southwest of the capital.

Gruber was in charge of training in the armed forces and Visconti was in charge of military supplies. About 100 rebel soldiers also were arrested, according to the government news agency Venpres.

But another group of about 100 Venezuelan air force personnel flew aboard a C-130 transport plane to the Peruvian city of Iquitos and asked for political asylum, said an official at the airport, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In Caracas, sporadic gunfire rang out after nightfall as National Guard troops enforced a curfew.

Venezuela, the third-largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel, has been beset by unrest because critics accuse the government of not distributing oil riches to the public and fostering corruption. On Feb. 4, a group of mid-level military officers tried to depose the unpopular Perez, who heads one of Latin America’s most durable democracies.

Friday’s coup attempt was announced around midnight after rebels seized a television station and key airfield. The coup forces were believed to be a coalition of leftists, veterans of the February revolt and other renegade military officers.

Rebel bombs blasted a 60-foot-wide hole in the front of the white, colonial-style presidential palace and left craters in surrounding streets. Smoke billowed from areas near the palace and a small air base in the nearby La Carlota neighborhood, where rebel aircraft strafed government fighter planes on the ground.

Skirmishes shut down major thoroughfares in Caracas.

The 3 1/2-hour battle to drive about 25 rebels from the TV station left at least six people dead, according to media reports.

An editor at the Daily Journal, Venezuela’s English-language newspaper, said three bullets pierced the window of his home across the street.

“I could hear bullets, but I didn’t think they were for me--until the window exploded,” editor John Fegan said.

In Caracas, two soldiers drove through town in a car equipped with a loudspeaker and urged residents to help the rebels.

“We believe in a better Venezuela without corruption,” said 2nd Lt. Oneiver Herrera, 34, the driver.

“For all, for the poor,” blared the message from the loudspeaker.

At the Catia Prison, inmates revolted during the early coup hours, said Justice Ministry spokesman Pablo Escalante. There were some reports that police opened fire on inmates, but Escalante would not give further details.

Constitutional guarantees were suspended as authorities moved to put down the rebellion, and a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was announced.

Perez, who declared the situation under control several times throughout the day, was unable to deliver a planned address to the nation because of problems putting together a television hookup.

But in a statement distributed to reporters, Perez said some of the renegade soldiers participated in the February uprising.

A videotape broadcast by the rebels, who called themselves the Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement 200, criticized Perez for not instituting a viable democracy and pursuing an economic program that has not served the country’s poor.

Lt. Col. Hugo Chavez, the jailed leader of the February coup attempt, said in the tape that he sought “real democracy.” The rebels, he said, “guarantee real democratic rule.”

Earlier, about 100 people gathered near the government television station, waving Venezuelan flags and yelling “Long live Chavez.”

Venezuela’s economy showed an 8.5% growth rate in the first half of 1992, but 23% of the population lives in extreme poverty.

The 70-year-old Perez has been criticized for corruption and economic problems in the country, and his popularity recently was rated at a scant 9%. His party, Popular Action, is a democratic socialist party.

Despite the president’s unpopularity, a recent poll showed that Venezuelans do not favor a return to the military dictatorships that, except for a brief period in 1947, ruled this country from the date of its independence in 1830 until 1959.

The coup attempt came less than two weeks before a scheduled national referendum on cutting short his term before it expires Feb. 2, 1994.

In the United States, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that President Bush had telephoned Perez to reassure him of U.S. support.

Fitzwater said that Washington “cannot have normal relations with a country that has abandoned democracy.”

The Organization of American States called an urgent session of its permanent council in Washington to discuss the rebellion.

Nation at a Glance

Facts and figures on Venezuela:

Population--About 19.7 million people live in Venezuela, the most urbanized nation in Latin America. More than 3 million reside in Caracas, the capital.

Land--More than twice the size of California. Flat coastal plain and the Orinoco River basin are bounded on the west by the Andes Mountains.

Economy--Per capita income: $2,058 (1989 estimate).

Armed forces--73,000.

Language--Spanish.

Religion--Roman Catholic, 92%.

Source: Times wire reports