 During events surrounding the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, NPR said Lopez "orchestrated the public protests against President Hugo Chávez and played a central role in the citizen's arrest of Chavez's interior minister", Ramón Rodríguez Chacín.Lopez later tried to distance himself from that event, maintaining his actions were meant to protect Chacín from an angry mob.López did not sign the Carmona Decree, drawn up on the day after the 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt.