Resumen

From the 11th to the 13th of April: Imaginaries in Conflict en an Epoch of Politi-cal and Cultural Transition. Revista Venezolana de Economía y Ciencias Sociales [online]. 2005, vol.11, n.3, pp.37-62. ISSN 20030507.

This article examines the April 2002 coup and the popular and military response two days later. It starts with a brief presentation of the crisis of representation in the nineties and the two alternative discourses competing for hegemony as a result. It then offers an interpretation of the impact in terms of social imaginary of Chávez’ electoral victory in 1998, and the subsequent polarization between the Nationalist-Democratic and the Neoliberal-Technocratic discourses that imbued the political forces that opposed each other during the coup.

Palabras clave : Imaginaries; Neoliberalism; Democracy; Conflicts; Antagonisms; Venezuela.