PROFILE: Venezuela's acting president replaces long-time defense minister with intelligence head

Record ID: 2366432

  • Title: PROFILE: Venezuela's acting president replaces long-time defense minister with intelligence head
  • Date: 18th March 2026
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) RIDE-HAILING DRIVER, AYODELE ADEDOYIN ADETOLA, SAYING: "We go to their venues every three to four months to have our inspection done, we pay for all these things for them to verify that the car is in good condition. So you spend your money to make sure your car is in good condition you spend your money to buy fuel." RIDE-HAILING DRIVERS DRIVING OUT OF
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Delcy Rodriguez Venezuela Vladimir Padrino defende minister politics
  • Location: CARACAS & UNKNOWN LOCATION, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS & UNKNOWN LOCATION, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA003534018032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Wednesday (March 18) that General Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez will replace General Vladimir Padrino as defense minister, a position Padrino has held for more than 11 years.
    The change is the most important yet in Rodriguez's cabinet and marks the demotion of a long-time power broker who controlled Venezuela's sprawling military.
    In a post on Telegram, Rodriguez thanked Padrino for his service and loyalty to the homeland, and said he would be given new responsibilities.
    Rodriguez in January appointed Gonzalez Lopez as the new head of the presidential guard and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence.
    Gonzalez Lopez, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. and EU along with at least half a dozen other high-ranking officials for rights violations and corruption, served as Venezuela's domestic intelligence director until mid-2024. Later that year, he began working with Rodriguez as head of strategic affairs at state oil company PDVSA, which she previously oversaw as energy minister.
    Padrino, who has also been sanctioned by the U.S. over alleged drug trafficking and his support for ousted President Nicolas Maduro, once directed the ceremonial section of the presidential guard under deceased President Hugo Chavez. But his star fully rose under Maduro, who made him defense minister in late 2014.
    Sources have told Reuters Padrino was likely to be replaced and had been kept in his position after the U.S. capture of Maduro to ensure stability in the military, where some 2,000 generals control disparate groups of poorly paid troops, as well as huge business interests.
    Padrino, who appeared on state television soon after Maduro's capture to say Venezuela would resist foreign troops and whose military was preparing 'guerrilla-style' attacks to confront an invasion, has instead worked with Rodriguez to comply with U.S. demands on oil, mining and the release of some people classed as political prisoners.
    Despite the U.S. intervention, Venezuela's repressive apparatus remains intact, the United Nations said last week. Venezuela's government has always denied human rights violations against civil society and its political opposition, as well as accusations of corruption within the military.
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