Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned in victory to his presidential palace in Caracas on Sunday April 14, 2002, after two days of being temporarily forced from power by military coup. The former paratrooper had been held under arrest on the Venezuelan island of La Orchila, by high-ranking military officials who briefly ousted him as president early on Friday in favor of businessman Pedro Carmona. Carmona was a co-leader of a general strike last week which led to Chavez's ouster, and was named president by the military high command Friday. This occurred only a few hours after generals arrested Chavez for allegedly ordering gunmen to fire on a 150,000 strong opposition protest on Thursday. Sixteen died and hundreds were wounded in the protest. Dozens more died in rioting and looting on Saturday. Carmona resigned on Saturday after massive protests broke out in favor of Chavez, and loyalist troops seized control of Miraflores, a town in Venezuala. Demonstrators supporting Chavez, or opposed to the way he was ousted, forced Carmona to step down. The commander of a strategic air base in the central city of Maracay rebelled Saturday, setting in motion nationwide protests demanding Chavez's return.