00:00This is the January 23rd neighborhood, where the mountain barracks are located, and where National Dignity Day was born.
00:09That moment in Venezuelan history when Hugo Chavez led a civil military rebellion to overthrow the then-president, Carlos Andrés Pérez.
00:17For example, the Venezuelan people were a surprise, but a surprise that was in some way foreseeable.
00:31Why? Because the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez was already going through a huge crisis at that time, there were daily protests, and the government turned a blind eye, turning a deaf ear to the terrible economic situation of corruption and instability.
00:55The mismanagement of the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s under the presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez forced him to take unpopular measures, such as increasing the price of fuel, urban transportation, and interest rates, while calling for the understanding of the Venezuelan people.
01:12If I chose the easy way out, by trying to avoid the difficulties and hide the reality, all Venezuelans would respond with positive understanding, if we come together, as I am doing now, to build a country capable of standing on its own two feet.
01:40But the response was not what was expected. The population responded with protest and looting of stores in search of food. The government responded by deploying the army.
01:53Faced with this social discontent, the people saw in the figure of a young Hugo Chavez a beacon of hope.
02:00And it served to foster a hope that was not necessarily visible at that moment in terms of the elections, but rather a hope that there were sectors very concerned about what was happening and that in some ways wanted a radical change that was necessary at that time in the country.
02:27A radical change that came to pass after the 1998 elections, with the triumph of commander Hugo Chavez FrĂas.
02:35The military mobilization arrived at the Miraflores Palace at that moment, but it did not have the desired result, as Hugo Chavez himself acknowledged.
02:48Unfortunately for now, the objectives we set for ourselves were not achieved in the capital city.
02:54He was in prison for two years. Upon his release, he participated in the 1999 elections, which he won by a large margin.
03:02As president, he called for the prevention of a new armed incursion, but with the following warning.
03:07We don't want any more rebellions.
03:12We don't want any more rebellions. I told my brothers in arms, I went to the alma mater and said it, that it must never happen again.
03:21But let there never be another February 27th. Let the people never again be deprived of the right to life.
03:32Because if this continues to happen, no one can guarantee that another day, tomorrow or the day after, another unwanted event will occur, like the events of 1989 or 1992.
03:51The so-called Caracasos were a response to the measures that at the time suffocated the population.
03:58And that is how now these streets of the January 23rd neighborhood capture all the meaning derived from the mobilization of the civil military union, known as National Dignity Day.
04:09National Dignity Day.
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