tancazo

Question

The following is cut-and-pasted from a news item from an Argentinian e-zine:

Chávez se muestra cada vez más nervioso y quiere sacar al ejército para ganar
votos a 'tancazo? limpio.

The meaning seems to be that [Hugo] Chávez wants to call out (sacar') the army to win votes
"a 'tancazo' limpio." I didn't find "tancazo" in the dictionary. Whatever it is, it seems it would be clean (limpio).

Answer 1

Tancazo or Tanquetazo is apparently a reference to the coup that took out Allende in 1973 in Chile. I am not sure how to translate all of this, or what clean tancazo would be, and sacar has so many meanings that I can't figure out what they're saying he wants to do with the military either. I'll be checking this one tomorrow to see what light has been shed on it. I'm wondering if tancazo limpio could mean something like bloodless coup? doesn't really make sense though.

Answer 2

HI Guillermo,

tanque: tank

tancazo: big tank

In the context:

votes at the call: all tanks out
(people will be afraid and thus vote for him)

I am sure, there must be a saying. You might be able to think of one.

limpio has this meaning here:

1. (expresiones)a puñetazo limpio, -a -> with bare fists
   abrió la puerta a patada limpia -> he kicked down the door

It is used as an expression.

Answer 3

Given Heidita's reply, sounds like "a 'tancazo? limpio" would mean pretty much the same thing as "with a show of naked force".

Answer 4

Now we're getting somewhere, although given the support he has with the poor, and the huge percentage of the population that is poor, I would think that making them feel that they could vote safely would be all he would have to do to insure that he has the votes he needs in any election.

samdie said:

Given Heidita's reply, sounds like "a 'tancazo? limpio" would mean pretty much the same thing as "with a show of naked force".

>

Answer 5

Tranca is a large wooden stick. Trancazo is a bang with this stick.
Puño is fist; puñetazo is a punch.
The ending -azo is used, among other things, for bangs, hits, blows... done with the word it modifies.

These violent actions are often followed by "limpio" as an intensifier, like "bare" in "with bare fist" (a puñetazo limpio).

Answer 6

The right word would be tanquetazo, an action using tanks..
Tancazo is a big tank, superlative.
But those words are not so polite in a right Spanish, you never find them in a dictionary.
Did you understand my ¨English¨?

pd : ¡Pero qué cosa explica Heidita! jaja ( it´s joke!)

Answer 7

im pretty good. how are things in ... Texas'

Answer 8

everything I found on this word pointed me back to 73 Chile. It was said that the word came from the word for tanks. here's an exampleLessons from Chile 1973

However, despite these differences there are also important lessons that need to be drawn from the bloody defeat of the Chilean workers in 1973. Prior to the victory of the counter-revolution on September 11 1973, an abortive attempt to overthrow Allende was made by a section of the military in June. This plot - the 'tancazo' - was an anticipation of the bloodbath that was to follow three months later. The tancazo collapsed, as the majority of the military and conspirators involved in the coup were not yet in a position to take power.

Answer 9

Mmmmm....I shall return = ¡volveré!. I don´t have time now.

Answer 10

I thought I might pique the interest of a Chilean or two. The thread lives!

Answer 11

I hope that Guillermo (the other Guillermo, from Argentina) does not mind; I am posting his very informative comment here:

Leí la noticia original hace unos días. Lo que decía es que Chávez amenazó con sacar los tanques a la calle si no ganaba una elección regional. Eso es, en mi opiniíon, lo que quieren decir con "tancazo". Que si las cosas no salen como él quiere, va a usar la fuerza militar para conseguir su objetivo. Como yo linterpreto la noticia, están usando "tancazo" en forma similar a, por ejemplo, "palazo", que significa dar un golpe con un palo. En este caso sería golpear a la gente con los tanques (en forma figurada) para intimidarla. No creo que el sentido sea el de un tanque grande, aunque la palabra tomada en forma aislada signifique eso.

Answer 12

The threads lives? ¿La amenaza vive? ¿en Chile? no, eso es historia. No he querido poner nada acerca del tema en sí. En el extranjero se tiene otra versión un tanto distorsionada de esos hechos, pero eso a nadie le interesa, en fin..

Answer 13

picoroco said:

The threads lives? ¿La amenaza vive? ¿en Chile? no, eso es historia. No he querido poner nada acerca del tema en sí. En el extranjero se tiene otra versión un tanto distorsionada de esos hechos, pero eso a nadie le interesa, en fin..

I mean no offense. I'm interested in history and the only reason I posted the bit I did is that it was the only search result I found in English on that subject when I searched the web for that word. When all the results I saw were aout that incident in your country, all those years ago, I thought I had found something interesting, but I never thought I had any real knowledge of the subject. As you said It's history. When I said the thread lives, I was joking, talking about el hilo "el tancazo". I just meant that it looked like there would be more discussion about it. Amenaza is threat right? not my meaning at all. As I said, I mean no offense. I wish my castellano was good enough to say all this in that language, but I'm afraid they're has been enough misunderstanding

Answer 14

picrico, you seem have confused thread with threat. "Thread" is commonly used (as is hilo or hila -- I get them mixed up) to refer to a forum discussion.

picoroco said:

The threads lives? ¿La amenaza vive? ¿en Chile? no, eso es historia. No he querido poner nada acerca del tema en sí. En el extranjero se tiene otra versión un tanto distorsionada de esos hechos, pero eso a nadie le interesa, en fin..

>

Answer 15

OK, Steve.I read your post that sent to me, no problem jajaja
I have a History of Chile, would you read that?
Spanish.
Esos hechos son en el marco de la Guerra Fría que dividó al mundo, Sí, todo es muy intersante.
Chile por su especial posición geográfica y cambios mundiales producto del post modernismo no escapó a esa situación. Se era comunista o socialista o se adhería al capitalismo o ¨mundo libre¨ occidental.. Los que tenemoa más de treinta vivimos eso. En Chile todo fue muy ¨especial¨.. ..