Venezuela’s Minister of Inside Diosdado Cabello delivers a speech throughout a ladies’s rally in assist of ousted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse Cilia Flores in Caracas on Jan. 6, 2026.
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FEDERICO PARRA/AFP through Getty Pictures
BOGOTA, Colombia — The seize of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. particular forces has raised hopes of a democratic opening within the South American nation. However to date, there’s been no “Venezuelan Spring.”
That is, partially, as a result of Diosdado Cabello, Maduro’s most hardline enforcer, stays in energy underneath interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who took over following Maduro’s seize by U.S. forces.
Within the hours after the U.S. operation, Cabello, who’s Venezuela’s Inside Minister, appeared on the streets in Caracas sporting a helmet and flak jacket. He condemned the U.S. operation as a “cowardly assault” and urged Venezuelans to not cooperate with what he known as a “terrorist enemy.”
Standing alongside armed safety forces, Cabello known as on supporters to mobilize to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty and warned opponents that these perceived as traitors would face penalties for doubting the Bolivarian revolution.
Like Maduro, Cabello has been indicted in the USA on drug trafficking and narco‑terrorism expenses, and named alongside Maduro, his spouse Cilia Flores, and different associates in the identical indictment.
Washington is providing as much as a $25 million reward for data resulting in Cabello’s arrest, alleging he was a senior determine in what U.S. authorities have known as the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Solar, a community of Venezuelan officers the U.S. alleges are concerned in cocaine shipments to the USA. Cabello has denied the allegations.
However regardless of the U.S. expenses, Cabello stays a central determine within the Venezuelan authorities, persevering with to wield vital energy whereas the administration seeks to enhance relations with the Trump administration following Maduro’s elimination.
When requested about Cabello at a White Home information convention on Wednesday, President Trump did not appear to acknowledge his identify. However inside Venezuela, Cabello is infamous.
A stocky determine with a crew minimize, Cabello, 62, was a detailed confidant of Hugo Chávez, the founding father of Venezuela’s socialist revolution. As younger military officers, the 2 males took half in a 1992 army coup with Cabello accountable for a number of tanks that have been purported to assault the presidential palace.
The coup, which was led by Chávez, collapsed and the 2 males together with dozens of different army officers have been imprisoned. However after their launch, Chávez was elected president in 1998 with Cabello turning into a part of his inside circle.
This 17 Jan. 2002 file photograph exhibits then Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (R) together with his new vice-president Diosdado Cabello (L) throughout a ceremony on the Authorities Palace in Caracas.
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JUAN BARRETO/AFP through Getty Pictures
Cabello served in quite a few posts, together with head of the telecommunications regulator the place he was instrumental in closing TV and radio stations important of the federal government. He additionally served as interim president for about 5 hours in 2002 when Chávez was ousted in a short-lived coup.
Though Cabello was lengthy considered as the subsequent in line for President, Chávez made clear earlier than his loss of life in 2013 that Maduro would succeed him. Maduro’s shut relationship with Cuban officers — who have been deeply concerned in advising Chávez — helped cement that selection.
“It was an open secret in Venezuela that Diosdado Cabello noticed himself because the rightful successor to Hugo Chávez, not Maduro,” stated Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela analyst on the Atlantic Council.
As an alternative, Cabello went on to guide Venezuela’s Nationwide Meeting and the ruling Socialist Get together. However as a consequence of their rivalry, he was stored out of Maduro’s cupboard till 2024, when protests erupted over sturdy proof that Maduro had stolen that yr’s presidential election.
“Maduro wanted to have an enforcer on board to crack heads collectively and put down the protests within the wake of the stolen election,” Ramsey stated.
Named inside minister in 2024, Cabello led a crackdown through which 24 individuals have been killed and greater than 2,000 arrested, in accordance with Human Rights Watch. Now, underneath interim President Rodriguez, he continues in that put up, controlling Venezuela’s police power in addition to armed, pro-government bike gangs often called colectivos.
Venezuela’s performing President Delcy Rodriguez, and Inside Minister Diosdado Cabello arrive on the Nationwide Meeting in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026.
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Ariana Cubillos/AP
Zair Mundaray, a former Venezuelan public prosecutor, says the secure enterprise local weather sought by the Trump administration to take advantage of Venezuelan oil will not occur so long as Cabello stays within the image.
“How will you have authorized stability when you’ve gotten this man who has armed thugs within the streets and who can create chaos, and jail or kidnap individuals each time he needs?” Mundaray says.
Human rights activists blame Cabello for delays within the launch of political prisoners, a authorities coverage introduced over every week in the past to foment nationwide unity. As well as, Cabello continues to slam dissidents on his weekly TV program, Con el Mazo Dando (“Hitting with the Hammer”). In a latest episode, he branded opposition chief and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Corina Machado as a “fugitive from Venezuelan justice.”
Not surprisingly, opposition figures who fled the nation say will probably be too harmful to return so long as Cabello and different hardliners, like Protection Minister Vladimir Padrino López who controls the army, stay within the authorities.
Throughout a panel dialogue sponsored by Harvard College, Venezuelan economist Ricardo Hausmann stated: “Proper now, I can not return. You could have the colectivos within the streets. You could have Diosdado Cabello as head of the police. So, the federal government in Venezuela is similar Chavista authorities we noticed earlier than.”
He says this might additional delay a transition to democracy that the Trump administration says additionally it is in search of.
Trump has warned of a second wave of army strikes ought to Maduro holdovers, like Cabello, step out of line. Cabello might attempt to minimize a deal and go into exile. An alternative choice can be to lie low, cooperate with the interim authorities and attempt to outlast Trump.
“If he expects to remain out of jail and keep away from Maduro’s destiny his greatest alternative lies in coordinating with Delcy Rodríguez, not less than for now,” Ramsey stated. “However that does not imply he is going to surrender his longstanding ambitions.”
