March 18 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on Wednesday 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 powerbroker 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.
(Reporting by Reuters, editing by Deepa Babington)
