The last week witnessed a gigantic military crisis affecting the highest levels of command of the armed forces, which was able to get the president out of Miraflores Palace, put him in a situation where he was prepared to resign, and ready to fly to the largest island of the Antilles [Cuba]. But what seemed to be a lightning strike into the heart of the Fifth Republic went out of control in less than two days, and before the week was over, the roles were reversed.

But the most surprising thing about the entire drama is that, during the 48 hours of high tension among the various factions, there was not a single armed confrontation. Not a single shot was fired. Over the course of these two days about 20 officers played a huge game of chess, a war of persuasion, and the main chessboard was to be found on the fifth floor of the old Ministry of Defense building.