The Coordinadora Democrática (''Democratic Coordinator'', CD) was an umbrella group of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

n political parties and organisations opposed to President

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Repub ...

. Founded on 5 July 2002, it was involved in organising the

Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003 Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and the

2004 Venezuelan recall referendum The Venezuelan recall referendum of 15 August 2004 was a referendum to determine whether Hugo Chávez, then President of Venezuela, should be Recall election, recalled from office. The recall referendum was announced on 8 June 2004 by the Nation ...

. The group included a wide range of political parties and other actors, including the business federation

Fedecámaras The Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Production ( Spanish: ''Federación de Cámaras y Asociaciones de Comercio y Producción de Venezuela'') or Fedecámaras is Venezuela's main business union. It is formed by businesses that ...

and the trade union federation

Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela The ''Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela'' (CTV, English: Confederation of Workers of Venezuela) is a federation of labor unions in Venezuela. It has close links to the Democratic Action party. The union federation has been a consi ...

(CTV). The CD was created in large part to enable the opposition to participate in the Organization of American States (OAS) "mesa" dialogue process (''Mesa de Negociacion y Acuerdos'') which followed the

2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt A failed coup d'état on 11 April 2002 saw the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, ousted from office for 47 hours before being restored to power. Chávez was aided in his return to power by popular support and mobilization against the coup ...

. "The opposition participated in the OAS-facilitated dialogue process as but one of several tracks in a multitrack strategy to oust the Chavez government. ... As long as the elements grouped together under the Coordinadora Democratica continued their pursuit of street tactics, the mesa advanced little on its three-point agenda. Instead, it served during this period of heightened mobilization as a valuable communication link between two polarized sides that were otherwise not communicating." After the February 2003 failure of the

, the CD was much more willing to discuss the mesa's proposals, and pushed for a binding recall referendum under Article 72 of the

Constitution of Venezuela The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, Constitución de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela (CRBV)) is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constituent assembly that h ...

, which was ultimately agreed on 23 May 2003.OAS
Agreement Between the Representatives of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Political and Social Groups Supporting It, and the Coordinadora Democratica and the Political and Civil Society Organizations Supporting It
Caracas, 23 May 2003. The CD rejected the outcome of the

, which saw 59% of the vote for Chavez.

Parties

* Acción Agropecuaria (AA) *

Acción Democrática Democratic Action ( es, Acción Democrática, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government durin ...

(AD) *

Alianza Bravo Pueblo The Fearless People's Alliance (''Alianza Bravo Pueblo'') is a political party in Venezuela. At the 2000 Venezuelan parliamentary election the party won one out of 165 seats in the National Assembly of Venezuela. The party's president Anton ...

(ABP) * Alianza por la Libertad (APL) * Bandera Roja (BR) *

Convergencia Citizens' Movement ( es, Movimiento Ciudadano) is a political party in Mexico. Dante Delgado Rannauro was its first leader. It was initially known as Convergence for Democracy ( es, Convergencia por la Democracia), but the name was shortened to ...

* Copei * La Causa R (LCR) * Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) * Movimiento de Integridad Nacional Unidad (MIN) *

Primero Justicia The Justice First ( es, Primero Justicia) is a centre-right political party in Venezuela. Founded in 1992 as a civil association, it became a political party in 2000. Henrique Capriles was the candidate of the party in 2013 general election. ...

(PJ) * Proyecto Venezuela (PV) * Solidaridad * Solidaridad Independiente (SI) * Unión * Unión Republicana Democrática (URD) * Visión Emergente (VE) Among the parties that joined later were: * Democracia Renovadora (DR) * Fuerza Liberal (FL) * Movimiento Republicano (MR) * Movimiento Trabajo (MT) * Opinión Nacional (Opina) * Movimiento Resistencia Civil (MRC) * Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) * Un Solo Pueblo (USP)

References

2002 establishments in Venezuela Defunct political party alliances in Venezuela Politics of Venezuela Political organizations based in Venezuela Opposition to Hugo Chávez {{Venezuela-poli-stub