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national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday February 18, 2003 14:08 by S. Aerobics

Documentary : Chavez - Inside the Coup

In April 2002 there was an attempt to overthrow Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. Irish film-makers Kim Bartley and Donnacha Briain had arrived in the country a couple of months earlier to make a documentary on Chavez. "Our initial interest was in Chavez himself," says O' Brien. "But as soon as we got out there we knew there was something going on, so we stayed on."

The two film-makers were there to record the demonstrations; the shootings; the siege; the surrender. They were also there the next day when Chavez supporters marched on the city to protest, the state television was restored, and the army turned on it's own commanders and forced the release of Chavez.