Reflections on fear and the media 23 years after the coup d'État in Venezuela

Abstract

This paper examines the discursive strategies employed by the media outlets La Voz del Interior (Argentina), El País (Spain), and The New York Times (USA) to construct narratives surrounding the coup d'état against Hugo Chávez in April 2002, a significant event in Venezuelan and Latin American politics. Despite the 23 years that have passed, studying this event remains crucial for understanding how media discourses shape perceptions of political leadership and international dynamics, a phenomenon still relevant in today's context of polarization and the profound influence of media on global public opinion. From a critical perspective within International Studies and through discourse analysis techniques, four main axes are identified: the portrayal of Chávez's political leadership as autocratic, the construction of a geopolitics of fear, tensions surrounding freedom of the press, and the characterization of political actors through polarizations between "gods" and "demons." This approach enables reflection on the continuities and transformations in the use of fear as a discursive tool, highlighting the importance of revisiting past events to better understand contemporary challenges in communication and politics.