Why the Venezuelan President Replaced Senior Military Commanders
CARACAS – Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez announced Thursday that she has replaced all senior military commanders, marking the latest major institutional shake-up since the United States removed Nicolas Maduro from power in early January.
Rodriguez announced the military restructuring through social media a day after firing the long-serving defense minister who had maintained close ties to Maduro. She replaced him with a former intelligence official, signaling a broader effort to purge loyalists from the previous regime.
“I announce the designation of the renewed Military High Command,” Rodriguez stated, underlining her determination to consolidate control over Venezuela’s armed forces.
Rodriguez faces an extraordinary challenge. She inherited a country possessing the world’s largest proven oil reserves alongside an economy in catastrophic decline, marked by widespread shortages of food, medicine, and essential goods. The former vice president under Maduro is navigating competing pressures from the United States, which orchestrated the January 3 special forces raid that removed the authoritarian leftist leader, and from Venezuelans still sympathetic to the previous government.
Under US pressure, sometimes accompanied by threats, Rodriguez has enacted sweeping reforms. She signed a historic amnesty law freeing political prisoners detained under Maduro and restructured oil and mining regulations according to American demands for access to Venezuela’s vast natural resources.
President Donald Trump has made clear his dominant role in Venezuelan affairs, stating publicly that he effectively runs the country and will allow Rodriguez to remain in power only if she complies with US directives.
The Venezuelan military represents a powerful institutional force that extends far beyond traditional defense functions. The armed forces control oil, mining, and food distribution enterprises, oversee customs operations, and manage key government ministries. These responsibilities, combined with longstanding allegations of institutional corruption and abuse, make military loyalty essential to any leader’s survival.
Rodriguez must simultaneously satisfy Trump’s demands for resource access and policy compliance while managing the delicate political reality of a nation where many citizens remain attached to Maduro’s socialist project. Maduro himself faces trial in New York on US drug trafficking charges, alongside his wife.
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