There's a coup." Faced with his officers' demand, Chávez reportedly refused to resign but agreed to "abandon his functions", a procedure that is provided for by Venezuelan law but that would need to be ratified by the National Assembly. There followed "hours of negotiations" in which the "key figure" was Armed Forces Commander Gen. Lucas Rincón Romero, who did not make clear at any point during the crisis where his loyalties lay. Early Friday morning, Rincón told the public that Chávez had resigned. An hour and a half later, Carmona was named president of what was meant to be a transitional government. On Friday morning a "heavily guarded caravan" took Chávez, who was "wearing his trademark fatigues and red beret", from Miraflores to the army base at Fort Tiuna. At the base, Chávez was forced to take off the uniform and beret and dress in civilian garb. (The Miami Herald noted that armed-forces officers had long been irked by his habit of wearing a military uniform during his presidency.). Here he met with representatives of the Roman Catholic Church. "By midmorning on Friday", reported the Times, Chávez "looked to be finished". The military later maintained, according to The Guardian, "that the civil unrest forced them to ask Chávez for his resignation, which he gave verbally, asking to be flown to Cuba". The Cuban government was trying to arrange for him to go into exile in Cuba. Chávez's request to be allowed to go into exile in Cuba was soon rejected, however. Army General Roman Fuemayor said: "He has to be held accountable to his country." Meanwhile, according to the Miami Herald, "Bernal, Vice President Diosdado Cabello and several other Chávez cabinet members were reported to be trying to win political asylum in foreign embassies, including those of Chile, Cuba, Iraq and Libya." Police, alert to reports that Chávez supporters in the Caracas slums were distributing weapons, began searching for guns in homes. Meanwhile, Rincón, "in full uniform", had announced on national television at about 2 a.m. that the president had resigned. Chávez would be taken to La Orchila, a military base off the coast of Venezuela. He was able to get word out arguing he had resigned via a telephone call to his daughter, who was able to speak first to Fidel Castro and then to Cuban television. After two young female military prosecutors interviewed Chávez at Fort Tiuna on