Venezuelan leader replaces top military commanders

Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, replaced her country’s top military commanders a day after naming a new defense minister.

Announcing the initiative on Thursday, Rodríguez said the new appointments will guarantee “sovereignty, peace, stability and territorial integrity” for Venezuela.

The reorganization of Caracas’ top defense team follows US President Donald Trump’s raid on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in early January.

Rodríguez has since distanced himself from his predecessor’s government and worked closely with Washington, with the two countries re-establishing diplomatic relations in early March.

Among the new military appointments, Rodríguez said Dilio Alejandro Agüero Montes will be the new commander of the navy, Royman Antonio Hernández Briceño the new commander of the air force and Rubén Darío Belzares Escobar the new commander of the army.

On Wednesday, Rodríguez presented his interim government with a cabinet reshuffle, which included the dismissal of Maduro ally Vladimir Padrino López as defense minister.

In a post on Telegram, Rodríguez announced Gustavo González López as the new defense minister, thanking Padrino for his service and “loyalty to the country”.

Human rights watchdog Provea called the new appointment a “laundering of impunity.”

Padrino had been defense minister for 12 years and was one of Maduro’s staunch supporters.

Reacting to the news of his replacement, he said it was “the greatest honor of my life to serve my country as a soldier and protect peace and national unity during all these years.”

He then offered his congratulations to González López on the new appointment, recalling that the two had known each other since the beginning of their careers and he was certain that the armed forces would “emerge stronger” under the leadership of his peer.

González López was head of the Venezuelan intelligence service (Sebin) during the Maduro government on two occasions, between 2014 and 2018 and between 2019 and 2024.

In an interview with BBC Mundo, the director of Human Rights Watch’s American division, Juanita Goebertus, said that appointing him as defense minister “means keeping the repressive structure intact and rewarding someone who should be investigated for serious human rights violations, including torture or arbitrary detention.”

In 2015, then US President Barack Obama sanctioned González López. The White House said he was “responsible for or complicit in … significant acts of violence or conduct constituting a serious abuse or violation of human rights.”

Obama’s team then specified that his role as director general of Sebin is “a leading role in repressive actions against the civilian population during protests in Venezuela”, adding that the country’s intelligence personnel “have committed hundreds of forced entries and extrajudicial detentions”.

In announcing González López as the new defense chief, Rodríguez cast no doubt on his integrity for the role, instead expressing his confidence in his leadership. [BBC]

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