Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez announced the appointment of members of a “renewed military high command”
Caracas, Mar 19 (EFE).-
Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, on Thursday reshuffled the country’s armed forces two and a half months after Nicolás Maduro was captured by the United States amid a series of attacks in the South American country.
In posts on social media, Rodríguez announced the appointment of members of a “renewed military high command” that will work alongside the newly named defense minister, Gustavo González López, who was appointed Wednesday to replace Vladimir Padrino López, who had held the post since 2014 and was in office when Maduro was captured.
Rodríguez said the new military leadership, with a “firm commitment and patriotic loyalty,” will guarantee Venezuela’s “sovereignty, peace, stability and territorial integrity.”
Maj. Gen. Rafael Prieto Martínez, until now the military’s inspector general, was named head of the Strategic Operational Command of the FANB (CEOFANB), which is responsible for the planning, direction, execution and oversight of military operations.
The command also coordinates the components of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB): the Army, Navy, Military Aviation, National Guard and Militia.
Prieto Martínez replaces Gen. Domingo Hernández Lárez, who was sanctioned by the United States in 2024.
Rodríguez also appointed Maj. Gen. Jesús Villamizar Gómez as deputy chief of the CEOFANB. Villamizar Gómez had been commander of the Central Strategic Defense Region, which covers the states of Aragua, Carabobo and Yaracuy.
Following Prieto Martínez’s departure from the Inspector General’s Office, Rodríguez named Dilio Rodríguez Díaz to the post.
The Army is now led by Maj. Gen. Rubén Belzares Escobar, replacing Johan Hernández Lárez, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in September 2024 along with 15 other officials accused of obstructing that year’s presidential election and violating “civil and human rights.”
Rear Adm. Jorge Agüero Montes was named commander general of the Navy, replacing Ashraf Andel Hadi Suleimán Gutiérrez. Agüero Montes previously served, from August 2023 to October 2024, as head of the Nueva Esparta Operational Defense Zone.
Maj. Gen. Royman Hernández Briceño was appointed to lead Military Aviation, replacing Lenín Ramírez Villasmil.
Hernández Briceño had been head of the Los Llanos Strategic Defense Region, covering the states of Apure, Barinas, Portuguesa, Cojedes and Guárico, and in January rejected in a video what he called the “illegal and reckless attack” carried out by the United States “to kidnap” Maduro.
Maj. Gen. Juan Sulbarán Quintero, whom Maduro tasked in October 2022 with coordinating recovery and reconstruction efforts after the deadly landslide in Las Tejerías that killed 54 people, was named head of the Bolivarian National Guard, replacing Elio Estrada Paredes, who was also sanctioned by the United States.
Maj. Gen. Nayade Lockiby Belmonte was appointed to lead the Militia, replacing Orlando Romero Bolívar.
All of the outgoing commanders had been appointed by Maduro in October 2024, when the country was in the midst of a political crisis following his contested reelection in July of that year, proclaimed by a pro-government electoral authority that did not release voting tallies.
On Wednesday, Rodríguez named Henry Navas commander of the Presidential Honor Guard and Germán Gómez head of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), posts that had been held since January by the current defense minister.
That same month, Rodríguez made her first military changes, appointing commanders for the Andes and Eastern strategic defense regions, as well as more than a dozen operational defense zones, which plan and oversee military operations at the state level.
Rodríguez has also made numerous Cabinet appointments — including in communications, electricity, transportation and labor — while pushing to open strategic sectors such as oil and mining to foreign investment, amid increasingly close outreach to the United States. EFE
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