On 26 October 1988, when President Jaime Lusinchi was abroad on an official visit to Uruguay, and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Simón Alberto Consalvi, was in charge of the presidency, Army Major José Domingo Soler Zambrano mobilized a column of 26 Dragon armored vehicles (V-100) from the Ayala Battalion at 7:00 p.m.,[2][3] Fort Tiuna to the area of the Miraflores Presidential Palace in downtown Caracas, to the Carmelitas corner on Urdaneta Avenue, for no apparent reason.

[4][5] The tanks took strategic positions around the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the command of Captain Echeverría, and another column took the presidential residence of La Viñeta.

[1] Having carried out the mobilization, Major Soler Zambrano had violated all the protocols and procedures established for the realization of any military operation, which requires a series of confirmations by encrypted radiograms, direct and written orders and other security measures.

Candidate Carlos Andrés Pérez assumed the presidency in 1989, and shortly after the beginning of his term he faced the Caracazo, so no more attention was paid to the events.

According to him, the conspirators would have used an army major to mobilize the tanks, be able to argue violations to security protocols and then bet on the elimination of two entire military promotions; the mass dismissal would have been similar to what happened in the Soviet Union, after Mathias Rust landed his light aircraft in Moscow's Red Square.