How many coup plots?

BBCmundo correspondent in Caracas, Daniel Pardo (@pardodaniel), asked me last week how many times has Maduro claimed there is a plot to overthrow his government.

It’s a tricky question because part of the official rhetoric is that there is a permanent, ongoing coup (golpe continuado), against the government, in the form of an “economic war,”  “psychological war,” “media war,” etc.

Also it is difficult to separate the different coup plot claims from the several times government officials refer to the same coup plot.

I counted at least seven separate coup plot announcements by Maduro, corresponding to different coup plots, since March 2013. Here are the links in this blog to those announcements:

April 19, 2013: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2013/06/april-and-may-2013-sabotage-and.html

July 6, 2013: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2013/07/according-to-maduro-venezuelas.html

October 25, 2013: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2013/10/anti-coup-command.html

March 25, 2014: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2014/03/three-air-force-generals-accused-of.html (This was the first “Blue Coup” according to Diosdado Cabello, which is now being “re-activated” in the current “Jericho Operation”.)

April 8, 2014: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2014/03/three-air-force-generals-accused-of.html (I count this as a separate coup plot announcement but it is not clear to me if the government was referring to a defeat of the previous “Blue Coup” or to a new coup plot. Jaua and Cabello mention different conspirators for this one: opposition leaders, the United States, and Colombian ex-president Álvaro Uribe.)

April 15 2014: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2014/03/three-air-force-generals-accused-of.html (This was one of the first mentions of the “ongoing coup”, so I counted it as one.)

February 12, 2015: http://venezuelaconspiracytheories.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/the-jericho-operation-planes-bombings.html

So there: that’s 5, 6 or 7, depending on how you want to count them and what you consider to be a separate coup plot announcement.

Also, they are different but often overlap with claims of magnicidio (plot to kill the head of State). I have yet to count those. If you think about it, a magnicidio would necessarily entail a coup d’état, so the count of coup plots would be much higher.