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Hmm... this doesn't quite line up with my understanding of history.
My impression was that all of Latin American military coups of the 1900s had quite widespread support from the rank and file military. The purpose of taking over the radio station and local telephone exchange was not to prevent the average private from realizing what's going on, but rather to prevent the people outside the military from coordinating (both armed resistance and escape plans). Going back even further, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, all the soldiers certainly knew they were doing something "illegal". They just didn't care because they were loyal to Caesar and not the existing state.
I'd sincerely appreciate reading a more detailed analysis if you think I'm wrong.
I'd love to provide you one but I'm unfortunately pretty ill at the moment and frankly barely have the energy to try and remember where I read what.
That said, I don't know anything about Latin American coups, my knowledge mostly comes from post-colonial Africa and Southeast Asia as well as a more generalist book on coups whose name I can't remember at the moment.
Not all coups are the same, if you don't have widespread support from the rank and file military and instead only have a core cadre of (mostly senior) officers then the lower ranks need to be kept in the dark. An example I can recall off the top of my head is the 1963 coup in South Vietnam, the wikipedia section I've linked there is a pretty good example of a coup executed in that fashion. As for seizing the radio station, there are multiple benefits but in most cases I'm aware of they are mostly used for trumpeting the coups story to the high heavens in an attempt to control the narrative.
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It's not like the average LatAm general has just spent years leading his quasi-personal army through a plunderfest throughout Northern Europe and decided to return with said troops.
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