{"id":5535,"date":"2026-03-18T23:36:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T23:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/delcy-rodriguez-replaces-venezuelas-defence-minister-vladimir-padrino\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T23:36:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T23:36:54","slug":"delcy-rodriguez-replaces-venezuelas-defence-minister-vladimir-padrino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/delcy-rodriguez-replaces-venezuelas-defence-minister-vladimir-padrino\/","title":{"rendered":"Delcy Rodriguez replaces Venezuela\u2019s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>General Vladimir Padrino spent 11 years as the country\u2019s defence minister, acting as a key ally of Nicolas Maduro.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Venezuela\u2019s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has announced that she is replacing the country\u2019s longtime defence minister, General Vladimir Padrino, a central figure from the administration of former President\u00a0Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez announced the high-level departure in a post on Wednesday on the social media platform Telegram.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/12\/un-fact-finding-mission-warns-of-continued-human-rights-abuses-in-venezuela\">UN fact-finding mission warns of continued human rights abuses in Venezuela<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/14\/us-embassy-in-venezuela-reopens-as-trump-pushes-for-access-to-resources\">US embassy in Venezuela reopens as Trump pushes for access to resources<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/sports\/2026\/3\/18\/venezuela-defeat-usa-win-first-world-baseball-classic-championship\">World Baseball Classic: Underdogs Venezuela stun USA to win maiden title<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cWe thank Vladimir Padrino Lopez for his loyalty to the homeland and for having been, for all of these years, the first soldier in the defence of our country,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n<p>She added that Padrino would be given unspecified \u201cnew responsibilities\u201d. No explanation was given for the change.<\/p>\n<p>Padrino\u2019s departure is the latest cabinet-level shake-up in the Venezuelan government since January 3, when the United States launched a military operation to abduct <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/4\/venezuela-decries-cowardly-kidnapping-as-officials-back-maduro\">Maduro<\/a> and his wife, Cilia Flores.<\/p>\n<p>February, for instance, saw the departure of government ombudsman Alfredo Ruiz, followed by the resignation of Tarek William Saab as attorney general. Saab has since taken up Ruiz\u2019s post on an interim basis.<\/p>\n<p>All three officials were closely associated with Maduro and have been accused by human rights groups of contributing to government repression in Venezuela.<\/p>\n<p>The 62-year-old Padrino has led the country\u2019s military since 2014. Under his leadership, the military has faced accusations of corruption and abuses, including carrying out violent crackdowns on protesters.<\/p>\n<p>Critics have also noted that the military\u2019s influence extends into important sectors of the economy, such as mining, oil and food distribution.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/12\/un-fact-finding-mission-warns-of-continued-human-rights-abuses-in-venezuela\">a United Nations fact-finding mission<\/a> noted that much of Maduro\u2019s government remains in place, with little sign that there would be accountability for human rights violations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe complex legal and institutional machinery that instigated and enabled the commission of serious human rights violations and international crimes \u2014 previously documented by the Mission \u2014 remains intact,\u201d the group wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath of Maduro\u2019s abduction, President Rodriguez\u2019s interim government has faced pressure to implement reforms.<\/p>\n<p>Already, her administration has released hundreds of political prisoners and passed a general amnesty law, though rights advocates point out that the legislation has loopholes that could continue to allow for political repression.<\/p>\n<p>US President <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/3\/trump-says-us-will-run-venezuela-after-nicolas-maduro-seized\">Donald Trump<\/a>, meanwhile, has used the threat of further military action to pressure the Venezuelan government into opening its nationalised oil and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/6\/us-issues-limited-licence-for-venezuelan-gold-following-high-level-visit\">mining sector<\/a> to foreign investment.<\/p>\n<p>The US has also pushed to control Venezuelan oil sales, with Trump claiming to have taken \u201chundreds of millions of barrels of oil out\u201d already.<\/p>\n<p>The US <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/14\/us-embassy-in-venezuela-reopens-as-trump-pushes-for-access-to-resources\">embassy in Caracas<\/a> officially resumed activities last week after a seven-year hiatus under Maduro, who took office in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the January 3 attack, Rodriguez had served as Maduro\u2019s vice president. While she has cooperated with the US, she has nevertheless called on the Trump administration to release both Maduro and Flores.<\/p>\n<p>In Wednesday\u2019s announcement, Rodriguez indicated that Padrino would be replaced by General Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez.<\/p>\n<p>Both Padrino and Gonzalez Lopez have faced US sanctions, based on allegations of human rights abuses and corruption. In the past, Gonzalez Lopez has served as Venezuela\u2019s domestic intelligence chief, and more recently, he worked in the management of the state oil company PDVSA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General Vladimir Padrino spent 11 years as the country\u2019s defence minister, acting as a key ally of Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela\u2019s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has announced that she is replacing the country\u2019s longtime defence minister, General Vladimir Padrino, a central figure from the administration of former President\u00a0Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez announced the high-level departure in a &#8230; <a title=\"Delcy Rodriguez replaces Venezuela\u2019s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/delcy-rodriguez-replaces-venezuelas-defence-minister-vladimir-padrino\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Delcy Rodriguez replaces Venezuela\u2019s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}