On 12 April 2002, during the coup d'état attempt, after the military announced that President Chávez had resigned and transferred him to the base outside of Caracas, María Gabriela was the first person whom Chávez phoned; their conversation was captured by the Associated Press. She contacted several journalists to report that a coup was taking place. According to statements by Fidel Castro in the Cuban newspaper "Granma", he advised her to declare to the international media that Chávez had not resigned from the presidency, saying that "Then I immediately prepared her to speak with Randy the journalist, and at 12:40 we fired off (her message) on the air (...) and we delivered it to the agencies and CNN." On the same day, María Gabriela Chávez offered a telephone interview to the Cuban journalist Randy Alonso.