Venezuela's interim leader removes longtime defense minister Padrino López

Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez removed Vladimir Padrino as defense minister on Wednesday, ending his tenure of more than a decade in the role. Gustavo González López, a general, was named as his replacement.

Padrino, 62, had held the position since October 2014 and was considered one of Nicolás Maduro's closest allies within the military hierarchy. Rodríguez, who assumed interim leadership following Maduro's capture during a U.S. military operation on January 3, announced the change via Telegram.

"We thank General Vladimir Padrino López for his dedication, his loyalty to the Homeland and for having been, throughout all these years, the first soldier in the defense of our country," Rodríguez wrote. "We are certain that he will assume with the same commitment and honor the new responsibilities that will be entrusted to him," she added without specifying what those new duties would be.

González López, 65, previously served as commander general of the Presidential Honor Guard, a position he assumed shortly after Maduro's fall. He also held the role of director of military counterintelligence. The military, a pillar of the Chavista system, has expressed unrestricted support and absolute loyalty to Rodríguez in the absence of the captured leftist leader.

Padrino had been a central figure in maintaining military control under the Chavista government. He was one of the longest-serving defense ministers in Venezuelan armed forces history and played a key role in the political indoctrination of the military that began under Hugo Chávez. Padrino faces drug trafficking accusations in the United States.