Andean Group - May 2026

General Vladimir Padrino López was a stalwart of Venezuela’s Chavista regime, in which he had served as defence minister since 2014. He was shown the door on 18 March by new President Delcy Rodríguez, in what was arguably the most significant ministerial change since US forces seized Rodríguez’s predecessor Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) at the start of the year. Padrino López’s tenure as defence minister was marred by allegations of systematic human rights violations by the security forces and by claims from the US that he played an influential role in the Cártel de los Soles, which Washington has designated as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO).

Padrino López is so far the most influential cabinet minister to removed in a purge that President Rodríguez launched shortly after being inaugurated on 5 January. As defence minister he was responsible for the armed forces and the national guard for more than 11 years, and played a key role in ensuring that these institutions remained loyal to Maduro. As Maduro’s elected government morphed into dictatorship, under Padrino López’s command the military and national guard were responsible for the deaths of dozens of anti-government demonstrators from 2017 onwards.

A June 2017 report by international NGO Human Rights Watch labelled Padrino López as one of several high-level officials “in charge of security forces implicated in widespread abuses, and responsible for the prosecution of civilians by military courts”. Eight years later, the US State Department’s most recent (August 2025) country report on human rights in Venezuela highlighted human rights violations by forces under Padrino López’s command, including extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture, and arbitrary arrest, and noted that “no credible steps or actions were taken to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses”. He was one of many officials in Maduro’s government sanctioned by countries including the US and Canada for corruption and obstructing democracy.

However, any relief that might have been felt by Venezuelans after Padrino López was replaced in March was tempered by the identity of the new defence minister, General Gustavo González López. González has held leading positions in security institutions that have been instrumental in meting out repression.

Since Rodríguez took office in January González had headed the military counterintelligence directorate (DGCIM), which is responsible for snuffing out any signs of dissent within the armed forces. Prior to that he led the intelligence service (Sebin) for most of Maduro’s presidency, from 2014-2018 and 2019-2024.

Following the announcement that González would be taking over as defence minister, the Venezuelan human rights NGO Provea highlighted the weaponisation of Sebin under his leadership and described him as being “part of the chain of command responsible for crimes against humanity”. Provea added that “there can be no real institutional recovery while those responsible for repression maintain their power quotas”, insisting that “dismantling this apparatus is the minimum condition for any credible process of change”.

Power plays

Rodríguez did not explain the reasoning behind Padrino López’s departure from the defence ministry. Writing on social media, she thanked him for “his loyalty to the homeland and for being, for all these years, the first soldier in defence of our country”. Nearly a month later, she announced on 13 April that he would return to government in the less influential position of agriculture minister, replacing Julio León Heredia (2025-2026).

Rodríguez’s decision to move Padrino López out of one of the key roles in her government came amid a purge of ministers and military leaders appointed by Maduro, as Rodríguez consolidates her power while facing down the diminishing risk of a coup by generals loyal to her predecessor. In the immediate aftermath of Rodríguez’s rise to the presidency, there was speculation over whether she might face an internal challenge from Padrino López or Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who also wields great influence in the security forces and represents the most hardline faction of the ruling Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV).

Although it is possible that Rodríguez viewed Padrino López as too potent a rival to leave in charge of the armed forces, she is unlikely to have moved him without first calculating that the presumably disgruntled former defence minister would not be able to rally the military leadership into launching a coup.

Whilst the threat of an internal putsch had already receded after the PSUV quickly threw its support behind a US-backed economic reform agenda, Rodríguez has clearly tried to shift the balance of power away from Maduro loyalists – not least given lingering suspicions that Rodríguez may have played a role in Maduro’s downfall [SSR-26-02]. This was probably also the thinking behind a wider military shake-up which followed Padrino López’s dismissal. 

Wider military purge

On 19 March President Rodríguez replaced almost the entire military high command, who rose to prominence under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chávez (1999-2013). At the highest level, the strategic operational commander of the armed forces, General-in-chief Domingo Hernández Lárez, was replaced by Major General Rafael Prieto Martínez. The purge also saw the replacement of the commanders of the army, navy, air force, national guard, and the Bolivarian militia (MNB), among other high-ranking personnel.

González, meanwhile, seems to have gained Rodríguez’s trust during his tenure as superintendent of strategic affairs and production control at state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) from 2024-2026. This coincided with Rodríguez’s role as oil minister, which she carried out alongside her vice presidential duties in the final two years of Maduro’s government.

Initially, Cabello was viewed as the main internal threat to Rodríguez, to the extent that he was reportedly warned by the US that he would be arrested on drug trafficking charges if he did not cooperate with her plans for government [SSR-26-02]. Rodríguez has made efforts to placate Cabello, leaving his cousin, Alexis Rodríguez Cabello, in charge of Sebin, which he has directed since 2024, and appointing his daughter, Daniella Cabello, as tourism minister.

Cártel de los Soles

The US continues to offer a US$15m reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Padrino López for his alleged role in the Cártel de los Soles, which was purportedly headed by Maduro. According to a January 2025 statement by the US State Department, Padrino López used his position as defence minister “to facilitate the movement of air shipments of cocaine from Venezuela to Central America”. It claims that he “charged drug transportation organizations a protection fee to allow these drug laden aircraft safe passage out of Venezuela,” and that “if the protection money was not paid in advance, Padrino López would have the unapproved aircraft destroyed by the Venezuelan military”.

Cabello, meanwhile, remains the subject of a US$25m reward for his alleged membership of the Cártel de los Soles. The State Department claimed in January 2025 that Cabello liaised with the demobilised Colombian guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) to “transport and distribute large cocaine shipments”, provided armed security to protect those shipments, and provided drug traffickers with “military-grade weapons”, among other alleged offences.

Direct US flights resumed

Direct commercial flights between Venezuela and the US resumed on 30 April for the first time since 2019, with both countries hailing this as a reflection of improved diplomatic ties in recent months. The US chargé d’affaires in Caracas, John Barrett, attended a ceremony to welcome the first flight from Miami, which he described as “another historic milestone for US-Venezuela relations”. He said that “we’re witnessing the rebuilding of our economic ties, the reopening of Venezuela to global commerce, and the reconnecting of our two countries”.