{"id":204615,"date":"2026-03-19T04:49:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/venezuelas-acting-president-replaces-longtime-defense-minister-with-intelligence-head-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T04:49:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T04:49:39","slug":"venezuelas-acting-president-replaces-longtime-defense-minister-with-intelligence-head-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/venezuelas-acting-president-replaces-longtime-defense-minister-with-intelligence-head-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela's acting president replaces longtime defense minister with intelligence head – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

news Alerts
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Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez<\/a> said on \u200bWednesday that General Gustavo Gonzalez \u200cLopez will replace General Vladimir Padrino as defense minister, a position Padrino \u200bhas held for more than \u200b11 years.
The change is the most important yet in Rodriguez’s cabinet and marks the demotion of a longtime powerbroker who controlled Venezuela’s sprawling military.
In a post on \u2060Telegram, Rodriguez thanked Padrino for \u200bhis service and loyalty to the \u200bhomeland and said he would be given new responsibilities.
Rodriguez in January appointed Gonzalez Lopez as the new head of the \u2060presidential guard and the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence.
Gonzalez Lopez, who has been \u200bsanctioned by the U.S. and E.U. along with at least half a dozen other high-ranking \u200bofficials 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 \u200bshe previously oversaw as energy minister.
Padrino, who has also been sanctioned by the U.S. \u200bover alleged drug trafficking and his support for ousted President Nicolas Maduro<\/a>, once directed the ceremonial section \u200cof \u2060the presidential guard under deceased President Hugo Chavez. But his star fully rose under Maduro, who made him defense minister in late 2014.
Sources have \u200btold Reuters \u200bPadrino \u2060was likely to be replaced and had been \u200bkept in his position after \u200bthe \u2060U.S. capture of Maduro to ensure stability in the military, \u2060where \u200bsome 2,000 generals control \u200bdisparate groups of poorly-paid troops, as well \u200bas huge business interests.
Padrino, who appeared on state television \u200bsoon after Maduro’s capture to say Venezuela would resist foreign troops \u200band whose \u2060military was preparing ‘guerrilla-style’ attacks to confront an invasion, has instead worked with Rodriguez to comply with U.S. demands on oil<\/a>, mining and the release of some people classed as political prisoners.
Despite \u2060the \u200bU.S. intervention, Venezuela’s repressive apparatus remains intact, the United Nations \u200bsaid last week. Venezuela’s government has always denied human rights violations against civil society and its political opposition<\/a>, \u200bas well as accusations of corruption within the military.
Reuters
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeVenezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez said on \u200bWednesday that General Gustavo Gonzalez \u200cLopez will replace General Vladimir Padrino as defense minister, a position Padrino \u200bhas held for more than \u200b11 years.The change is the most important yet in Rodriguez’s cabinet and marks the demotion of a longtime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}